The Evolution of P.J. Harvey: A New Era Without the guitar
Since the breakup of her trio, P.J. Harvey,known for her captivating stage presence,has rarely been seen wielding a guitar during performances. On her 1995 tour for To Bring You My Love,which marked her third album and first true solo venture,she made the bold decision to forgo the instrument altogether. This shift allowed her to collaborate wiht two talented guitarists: her long-time partner John Parish and session musician Joe Gore, who where responsible for bringing the album’s rich sonic textures to life.
Gore reflected on the initial skepticism from fans when he joined the ensemble, recalling their reactions: “‘Why? I love the way she plays!’”
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In a feature for Guitar Player, Gore expressed his understanding of the fans’ concerns, noting, “I too admired the instrumental ferocity that helped Polly attract a rabid global following and a blizzard of critical acclaim for her first three albums.”
Artistic Choices: The shift from guitar to Performance
Harvey elaborated on her decision to step away from the guitar during live performances, emphasizing the physical demands of singing while playing. “I only stopped playing live because of my singing,” she explained. “My build isn’t huge, so holding a guitar and singing is physically draining. I can’t physically interpret the songs the way I want with a guitar.”
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Interestingly, Harvey was the mastermind behind the album’s guitar sound. While Parish focused more on drumming than strumming, Gore’s role was to add texture and color to Harvey’s powerful riffs. After the dissolution of her trio in 1993, she became fixated on achieving the precision of her home recordings.
“I had no idea that I’d end up wanting to replicate my demos as much as I did,” she confessed. “I’d wanted to put a band together and let the songs develop different interpretations, but I found that I just couldn’t live with that. I wanted things to be much more precise, and the only way was for me to do a lot of it myself.”
“While it’s true that no one plays like Polly, John probably comes closer than anyone else.”
– Joe Gore
Both Parish and Gore were exceptionally equipped to reinterpret Harvey’s guitar work in a live setting. Parish had discovered Harvey when she was just 17 and invited her to join his band, Automatic Dlamini, effectively becoming her instrumental mentor.
“While it’s true that no one plays like Polly,” Gore remarked, “John probably comes closer than anyone else.”
Connections and Collaborations: The Making of a Unique Sound
Gore’s introduction to Harvey came a few years prior when he interviewed her for a magazine feature. She admired his work with Tom Waits, but it wasn’t until rehearsals in London that thay finally collaborated musically.
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While Harvey may not consider herself a virtuoso,her guitar playing is characterized by a unique and dramatic intensity.”She’s no hyper-technician,” Gore noted, “but the 90-pound native of Dorsetshire renders her tough and ingenious riffs with enough violent emotion to make Tarantino flinch.”
“It’s so fat and revolting. I just love the way the bottom string is tuned so low it flops like a washing line.”
– P.J. Harvey
Harvey is also known for her innovative approach, occasionally experimenting with an all-A tuning inspired by stories from her guitar roadie about the Gary Glitter Band. “On my last tour, my guitar roadie was talking about Gary Glitter, who he’d worked with,” she shared. “He said the Glitter Band tuning was all strings to A, so I tried it out.”
She described the resulting sound as “so fat and revolting,” expressing her delight in the unique tonal qualities it produced.
Watch On
As she articulated, To Bring You My Love was significant for her songwriting approach. “For the first time, I’d start out by thinking of the mood I wanted to create,” she shared. ”Ninety percent of these songs started from wanting to build an atmospheric base.”
“I’m having a fab-o time. I’ve got the most handsome band in the world, especially the guitar players.”
– P.J.Harvey
This shift in focus-from technical riffs to atmospheric performance-resulted in a groundbreaking album that sold over a million copies and produced the unexpected hit “Down By the Water,” a haunting song about infanticide that surprisingly resonated with U.S.radio audiences.
Freed from the constraints of the guitar, harvey embraced her role as a dynamic frontwoman, confident in her choice of musicians to realize her artistic vision.She humorously added, “The only reason I picked them is so I can look at their behinds.”
