PJ Harvey’s upcoming album, The Hope Six Demolition Project, is her first since 2011’s Let England Shake. It also might be her most controversial.
Last month, Harvey released the video for “The Community of Hope,” and suddenly that song was seen in an entirely new light. The lyrics from the song had come from a tour given to Harvey by a Washington Post reporter, who had no idea that he was giving said tour. The reaction to this news, as well as the content of the actual lyrics, was not great. And now here we are, barely three weeks later, with a new song.
It’s called “The Orange Monkey,” and it’s a much subtler, smaller song than “Community.” It was premiered on Beats 1, and the introduction by the DJ insists on Harvey’s importance as a songwriter. He insists so strongly, in fact, that it seems almost as if he’s making excuses for Harvey’s maybe sloppy approach to writing that last song, which came under fire for its lack of subtlety by the community about which it’s written.
“The Orange Monkey” doesn’t seem likely to garner the same kind of controversy, for better or worse. Still, it’s a good song, and points at The Hope Six Demolition Project being another great album from Harvey. We’ll find out when it’s released April 15.