The Complete Works of PJ Harvey
Written by: PJ Harvey
Source: Filter, May 2004

Dry (1992)
Dry is the first chance I ever had to make a record and I thought it would be my last. So, I put everything I had into it. It was a very extreme record. It was a great joy for me to be able to make it. I never thought I'd have that opportunity, so I felt like I had to get everything on it as well as I possibly could, because it was probably my only chance. It felt very extreme for that reason.

Rid of Me (1993)
Rid of Me was when I'd first signed to a major label and I felt that I wanted to - more than ever - demonstrate that I was not going to be the kind of usually expected major artist material [laughs]. So, I chose to work with [Nirvana's In Utero producer, Steve] Albini, who is definitely not a particularly commercial engineer and I made a very difficult record. And I'm glad I did because I think it really did set the tone... I just wanted the people involved to know that I can only do things that follow my heart, that I cannot make music to suit other people. It has to be the way it has to be and if you don't like it, then leave me alone. So, that was part of that, but having said that, I've been with the same label for 12 years and I think they know me very well and just let me get on with it now.

4-Track Demos (1995)
4-Track Demos, again, was partly encouraged by Steve Albini. He loved the demos for that album so much he thought they should be out there and I tended to agree with him. It seemed like showing another side of what I do and introducing new songs that I hadn't recorded on a record. It was a lovely thing to do and it felt like the right time because my three-piece band had fallen apart and I was kind of in limbo before deciding where I was gonna be going again. So, it was just like a small interjection piece of me before I knew where I was going to be next.

To Bring You My Love (1995)
To Bring You My Love was my first real venture into production and to use an incredible producer like Flood, who painted an atmosphere over my songs that I hadn't heard before, I was working with new musicians - it was all very, very exciting. And very, very draining. That was a difficult time in my life, as was the time of Is This Desire?

Dance Hall at Louse Point (1996)
A collaboration with John Parish, entirely different. It freed me up as a lyric writer enormously and made me write lyrics in a different way because I was writing on music that I hadn't made - and would never have made - so it was quite an unusual, different step. It brought out very different lyrical qualities and musical, singing qualities, so that was a big learning curve. We went on the road with that with a set of dancers, so again, it was being a band for the dancers - that was a nice dynamical change.

Is This Desire? (1998)
Again working with Flood, again trying to find new ground, but a particularly difficult time in my life. So, it was a very, very difficult, difficult record to make and still one I find very difficult to listen to, but probably my favorite record that I've made because it had a lot of guts. I mean, I was making extremely difficult music, experimenting with techniques I hadn't used before and not really caring what other people thought about it. I'm quite proud of that one.

Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea (2000)
I wanted to try and make a record I didn't feel I'd made. I had never made a very highly produced pop, clear, beautiful, melodic record and I really wanted to see if I was capable of doing that.

Uh Huh Her (2004)
And then full-circle to now, where I wanted to do the exact opposite of what I'd done before. Most of the songs were written in Dorset, in England, which is a very quiet part of the countryside. But some of the songs were begun when I was away from home. I can remember I was on tour in Australia the beginning of last year, and I remember starting a few songs out there. When I was over here doing Desert Sessions [with Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme], I started a few things then, but mostly, everything was recorded and completed at my home in Dorset, on my home studio, which is very simple. I recorded and played everything myself, apart from the drums [performed by Rob Ellis], and recorded it on an eight-track cassette machine. I'd always wanted to get to the point where I felt confident enough to pretty much play everything and produce a record myself. It's been a long time getting there and it's quite a daunting prospect to not have anyone else to lean on or rely upon when you're making a record, and being your own critic and trusting in that. I think that I have only just felt that confidence to do it, which is why I felt able to make this record now.