Posted on: October 29, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 1

PJ Harvey – When Under Ether / 2007 Universal / Island / 2 Tracks / http://www.pjharvey.net / http://www.islandrecords.com /

PJ Harvey has been around a long time, but for the life of me, I’m not that familiar with eir body of work. Regardless, “When Under Ether” is eir new track, and it provides a tenderness of vocals and intricacy in the backing instrumentation that sounds as if Tori Amos differentiated eir instrumentation slightly. The instrumentation is what stands out during this track, as a blending of organic and electronic make the track stand out in sharp contrast to the works of other individuals in the genre (Ani, Dar Williams, and the aforementioned Tori). While this is a single (the flipside has the 1988 rarity “Wait”), what would be interesting in subsequent albums would be to have a more rock-based track. There just is something missing from “When Under Ether” at this point that would likely be fixed with the infusion of an electric guitar. “Wait” has the energy that “When Under Ether” should have, and as such, it provides individuals with the perfect up to “When Under Ether’s” down. PJ Harvey shows a hell of a range between these two tracks, and it makes me interested in what form of Harvey individuals will hear more of during the new album.

Top Track: Wait

Rating: 5.8/10

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