Rapid Fire Reviews: Graduating From "Singer-Songwriter" with PJ Harvey, Blake Mills, and Paul Simon

I've been doing quite a few rapid fire reviews in the past few days as I wait for more substantial new album to drop. This is probably the last one for a bit as a BUNCH of new records are on the horizon.

I Inside The Old Year Dying - PJ Harvey

I've always enjoyed PJ Harvey's music even if I've never been absolutely HEAD OVER HEELS for one of her albums the way many people are. I love classics like Stories From The Sea and even though I wasn't crazy about her previous album there is definitely something to say for its predecessor Let England Shake. So I didn't go into the project with astronomical expectations, but after really enjoying the eerie single I Inside The Old I Dying, I did at least see plenty of potential in the project. As you'd expect this album is eerie, naturalistic, often introspective, and yes, singer-songwritery. It's really the winteryness of the album that I appreciate the most. Beyond the bright naturalism of something like Spellling, this album feels much more like a snow capped walk through the forest. That type of more surreal serenity is occasionally interrupted by some of the record's loudest and harshest moments, though it's hardly a complaint because most of those moments go over well.

I'll admit that this album did take a while to wrap my head around. I wanted to do a more detailed analysis of the lyrics given my respect for PJ as a writer but in this medium, I'll keep it brief. I like the storytelling on the album even if I find it a bit too obtuse even for my taste sometimes. While moments like the reference to "femboys in the forest" extremely funny coming from PJ Harvey of all people, they also do disrupt some of the narrative throughlines that the project seems otherwise focused on maintaining. Elsewhere the interruptions aren't nearly as funny. But for the vast majority of this record what PJ is saying is exactly as worth diving into as the sonic space she's saying it into. Speaking of the femboy reference highlights are abound in the middle of the record. The Nether-edge and the title track are two of my favorites on the project and make for a great one-two punch right in its center. Even the single A Child's Question, August which i wasn't crazy about at first takes on a new life on the album proper. 

I like this album more than I anticipated and more than PJ Harvey's previous record. More than any one moment blows me away I just appreciate that despite the extremely loose presentation the project maintains a constant presence throughout. That vivid feeling of chilling eerieness never really leaves and its propped up by absolutely every sound throughout. While some of that formlessness may come back to bite the record during the opening run, and the lyrics aren't as cohesive as the instrumentals, this is still an album I enjoyed every time I came back to it. 7.5/10

Jelly Road - Blake Mills

Blake Mills has been dazzling me with his production and arrangements for years, most notably on a series of excellent collaborations with Perfume Genius. After I was also really impressed by the single Skeleton Walking which led up to this album I had a pretty strong interest in what the sound and style of it would ultimately be. As it turns out Jelly Road is a much gentler interpretation of Blake's stylistically poignant production tactics. There are plenty of layers to these songs though it is often with cracking background noise, quiet tinkering percussion, and expansive echo. The results are an often immensely satisfying arrangement of vocals and guitar that find themselves swelling in this world of sonic texture. On a song like Highway Bright none of the individual pieces seem to take up that much space but moments on the song can become completely overwhelmed with sound when they all tick off at just the right time.

In the spirit of fairness, I will admit that the detail isn't always perfectly welcome. On the track Wendy Melovin in particular much of the song feels more irritating than anything else. It features what I think is recorder and harmonica though both are far from their recognizable tenor and it also has this weird almost dripping sound in the background the whole time that made listening with headphones particularly uncomfortable. While the sonic palettes of this album are no doubt impressive, one place I'm less impressed by Jelly Road is with its lyrical content. The album isn't badly written by any means nor is the songwriting really ever distracting. But that's kind of the thing, so few of the thematic diatribes on this record really click with me. When the album does venture away from its singer-songwritery abstraction it still feels very impersonal even in moments like Press My Luck that are very much in the first person. 

I enjoyed this album a good bit. I'd even go as far as to say that it over-shot my expectations relative to past Blake Mills solo work and to the singles as a whole. Though the album has its ups and downs for the most part I can appreciate the details laced into it throughout and the resulting unique sonic palette. Ultimately, while this probably won't convert anybody into a Blake Mills super-fan, it has all of the same features that he's brought to other artists project to impress me so much in the past and through that lens I can recommend this to anybody who has enjoyed anything he's worked on previously. 7/10 

Seven Psalms - Paul Simon

Paul Simon continues to be far more interesting than almost anyone else who is still operating so deep into their career. Even though I haven't loved every indulgence he's taken in the past decade or so the fact that he manages to release some pretty distinct outings each and every time he emerges with new material is pretty impressive on its own. Now he's once again trying something a little outside the box with this 33-minute album being presented as one single track. While some of the transitions between segments are obvious enough that it's functionally a tracklist, occasionally the project can go on long diatribes of what feels like numerous distinct phases strung together. It also has recurring thematic motifs that it revisits throughout the album's length which gives everything a very magnetic pull when listened to as a full album. It also angles for something more outsider than Simon's past few projects occasionally embracing a genuine folky weirdness in its sonic palette.

I could treat this album like a conventional product, identifying individual moments I love like Your Forgiveness, but that feels like selling its presentation as an ambitious 33-minute single composition short. Trying to identify general shifts in the composition can be a bit tricky given its simple presentation as Simon and his acoustic guitar throughout. That isn't to say there are supplementary sounds which help flourish out, particularly dramatic moments, but the vast majority of this project is handled as scant as possible. One surprise that emerges is the presence of guest vocalist Edie Brickell. Unfortunately, I find the more calming vocal role she's often asked to play is kind of an affront to what makes the album interesting at its most isolated moments. It also makes the finale of the album a bit of a mixed bag to end things on. Even though this album no doubt has moments that are rough around the edges and I can see how it's appeal may be a tough sell to some, I still like it. Paul Simon is continuing to push himself artistically and is doing it on top of a foundation of songwriting that I find consistently compelling and interesting. 6.5/10