PJ Harvey & John Parish--A Woman A Man Walked By: PJ Yet Again Causes 94% of all Alt Rockers to Walk Home with Tails Between Legs

Not to give away this review’s conclusion or anything, but PJ Harvey is my reference point for what a cool person should be. Yet, I can still admit that not everything she releases is pure wonderment. Although wholly representational of a talented, brilliant, and glamorous woman during the Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea era, the corresponding album had a lot of lulls cowering behind its bigger, better songs. Likewise, the Mrs. Havisham look of White Chalk--her last release--was brilliant; the album, however, was unsatisfying despite its venturousness
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Still, it is always exciting to see where Harvey will take us next, even when she’s acting as the other half of a collaboration. This latest collaboration--with guitarist John Parish, in a follow-up to their album Dance Hall at Louse Point--does not maintain one straight style. The album feels like an inventory of Harvey’s past dabbles; a big cleaning out to decide where to take us listeners next.

And this, my friends, is why it’s fucking stupid this album is getting such lackluster reviews. This isn’t a PJ Harvey solo album; she shares the cover with a dude--see? So, stop treating it like it’s got to have some overarching theme. Have you learned nothing from Dance Hall? As a whole, that album is an extreme grower. Besides, A Woman A Man Walked By improves on that previous outing by leaps and bounds, which is the main requirement a follow-up must accomplish.

Not only does A Woman A Man Walked By improve upon the previous collaboration, but it improves upon White Chalk as well. Softer tracks, such as “Leaving California,” and the album’s closer, “Cracks in the Canvas,” offer glimpses at what the piano-heavy album could have been, should Harvey have given herself a slightly less restrictive approach to the thing. Cushioned between an array of characters, the higher singing register she adopted would have perhaps been easier to acquaint one’s ears with. It’s really a shame a song like A Woman’s “April,” sung in a croak which instantly paints a clarion picture of a spindly old woman, would have fit perfectly with the spinster pall White Chalk cast.

Louse Point’s greatest track--arguably--was “Taut,” perhaps the most terrifying song Harvey has ever released. Although nothing on A Woman A Man Walked By surpasses “Taut” in scares, there are a few tracks which equal and improve upon its shocks. The title track, now oft-quoted, has Harvey stating some facts about an ex-lover in monotone before going all Diamanda Galas on us listeners. The track then meanders into“The Crow Knows Where All the Little Children Go,” an instrumental every bit as foreboding as the title might suggest. “Pig Will Not”--which the liner notes indicate is inspired by a Baudelaire poem called “The Rebel,” features Harvey barking like a dog, and really, it’s right up there with Kate Bush braying like a donkey in “Get Out of My House.” I haven’t even mentioned the album’s first single, “Black Hearted Love,” yet, but what can you really say? It’s an old, unreleased gem, and we should all thank Harvey and Parish for pulling it out and dusting it off.

The grab bag nature of A Woman A Man Walked By leaves the listener with a searing curiosity for what mode PJ Harvey chooses to assume next. I suggest we all gather round and pull straws to see who gets dibs on shining her shoes, which undoubtedly will be just as exquisite as her voice and the sounds that will accompany it.

Level of Disappointment: 3;I’m really only disappointed by the video for “Black Hearted Love,” which was directed by infamous British artists Jake and Dinos Chapman, yet features no disfigured clowns nor children with penises for noses.

Watch: "Black Hearted Love" official video

Read: "The Rebel" by Charles Baudelaire