Point Taken

PJ Harvey

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Published: Apr 28, 2009

When is a PJ Harvey record not a PJ Harvey record? When she shares the line above the title with John Parish.

Harvey and Parish have drifted in and out of each other's orbits over the years — she got her start in his band Automatic Dlamini in the late '80s, he's produced three of her most stylistically diverse albums — but they've just gotten around to releasing their second formal collaboration, 13 years after their first. Their billing is equal and their division of labor is strict: She's in charge of the words and he's in charge of the music.

Like many of Harvey's own compositions, the songs on A Woman A Man Walked By are populated by intense girls with innocent-sounding names, doomed boys and the specter of death lurking in every garden and body of water. "Blackhearted Love," one of two tracks featuring a full band, is the most accessible, with radio-ready guitars and Harvey's droll delivery of the album's most dramatic line: "When you call out my name in rapture, I volunteer my soul for murder." Other songs are likely to appeal to different subsets of listeners. "Pig Will Not" is Harvey's fiercest vocal performance and "Passionless, Pointless" her gentlest; "A Woman A Man Walked By" is Parish's most erotically charged and the ukulele-led "The Soldier" his prettiest. Both performers have done better work elsewhere, but there are enough treats here to justify the excursion.

They released Dance Hall at Louse Point in 1996, between Harvey's stunning To Bring You My Love and her merely magical Is This Desire?, both of which were enriched by Parish's craftsmanship. But despite some powerful vocals and inventive instrumental work, their first joint album is underwhelming, to say the least. A weary cover of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller's classic "Is That All There Is?" sticks out like a sore thumb — and that's the most memorable moment. "That Was My Veil" is a sharp example of Harvey's feminine anger and "Heela" showcases her sensual side, yet neither is as gripping as what came before and what would follow. No one writes better music to accompany PJ Harvey's words than PJ Harvey.

(m_fine@citypaper.net)

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