You know I regard Polly Jean Harvey as something close to a divinity come tiptoeing from the Dorset mud. Her latest album, a second collaboration with John Parish after 1996's The Dance Hall at Louse Point, came out last year but I've only just around to listening to it. This is A Woman a Man Walked By. The mood is very different from the eeie, sepia-toned Gothic of White Chalk but the technique is the same: each track is less a narrative, even an excerpt from a narrative, than an insight, a single visionary thought translated into - well, everything from a howl to a shriek to a whisper. And a grin, because there's a streak of mischief and visceral humour running through the whole album. There's a lot of fun here, but, as they've said on Allmusic.com, Harvey and Parish's idea of fun is somewhat different from most people's. A queasy collection of bad dreams. Suits me, though.
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