'Dry'
--PJ Harvey (1993)

The Kiss-Off: "You leave me dry"

Fellas, just be glad she didn't tell us what she really thinks.





Download PJ Harvey on Napster

"She's hot and mysterious ... I like to think of her as Amy Winehouse's mother."
--Dave Attell

The insightful 'Insomniac' comedian revealed his PJ Harvey crush to the AV Club.

Hot on the heels of her latest album, 'White Chalk,' PJ Harvey will enter the studio with multi-instrumentalist John Parish for a collaborative album -- the follow-up to their beloved 1996 effort, 'Dance Hall at Louse Point.' Joining the two are frequent Harvey collaborator Eric Drew Feldman, Autolux's Carla Azar and Giovanni Ferrario.

Following the studio sessions, Harvey will launch a brief tour of New Zealand and Australia in February, as well as a one-off date in Rome on March 9.

The as-yet-untitled Harvey-Parish album is due later this year.

PJ Harvey recently announced another one-off tour date behind her latest album, 'White Chalk.' The elusive singer-songwriter will play Auditorium Parco Della Musica in Rome on March 9. The performance follows a string of scheduled dates in New Zealand and Australia, beginning February 13 Auckland, and wrapping on February 22 in Perth, Aus. To gear up for her shows Down Under, here's a video of Harvey performing 'Rid of Me,' from 2001's Big Day Out festival.

Just one day after playing the first of her only two U.S. shows this year, at New York's Beacon Theatre, PJ Harvey, who just released her latest album, the piano-based 'White Chalk,' stopped by our Manhattan studio for a four-song performance and interview. Donning a raven Victorian dress, Harvey needed little decoration for her tunes, as her solo set, much like the new album, relied heavily on only two things: a percussive, haunting piano -- a new instrument in Harvey's musical palette -- and a voice that has found no boundaries over the course of her 15-year career.

"Initially, I was [intimidated by the piano], actually," Harvey told Spinner. "I found myself avoiding playing it for about three months after I first had it. I had never had a piano before. I was nervous about approaching it for a long time, and then as soon as I got over that, it just became this wealth of inspiration, really, because I didn't know what I was doing. I've never really been a player that knows much about the theory side of music -- even to do with guitar. But I've gotten so familiar with shapes on the guitar, and I would know what shapes would work together. But with piano I knew nothing."

Watch the full performance and interview, in which Harvey discusses which of her albums she favors, what she was like as a child and why she'd like to sit down with Bjork and Tori Amos once more.

Much like the song, the video for 'When Under Ether' -- PJ Harvey's first single from her latest album, 'White Chalk' -- is bare-bones at best, with longtime collaborator Maria Mochnacz capturing the ever-elusive Harvey in her natural environment: the studio. Listen closely for the T.S. Eliot reference(s).

Bruce Springsteen, 'Magic'
Springsteen's new studio recording -- his first in five years with the E Street Band -- was produced and mixed by famed rock producer Brendan O'Brien.

The release of PJ Harvey's latest album, 'White Chalk,' is less than two weeks away from its October 2 release, but the French were treated to a preview of the piano-based effort recently when the eclectic Harvey stopped by 'Esprits Libres' for a mesmeric performance of new tune, 'Grow Grow Grow.' Yes, that's an autoharp. No, Hot Topic doesn't carry that dress.

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New York, 2004: That was a really quiet, simple moment with PJ Harvey. It was one of those moments where you get 45 minutes with someone in a hotel room, and there were a lot of pictures there that I really liked. That one was just really quiet, and I don't know -- she just seems really quiet to me. But onstage she just really goes for it. In this situation it's just a really quiet photograph, so I just sort of went for it and I thought it represented her well.



Photo 11 of 25

PJ Harvey is coming Stateside. [Brooklyn Vegan]

50 Cent ain't skeered of Kenny Chesney. [Idolator]

Actress Gina Gershon is releasing an album named after her cat to be made into a stage production. Prey for rock 'n' roll, indeed. [NewNowNext]

Britney's kids are about to introduce a whole slew of sexual expletives into their vocab by none other than Mommy Dearest. [Best Week Ever]

Recent Rock Hall inductees R.E.M. are this close to finishing their new album. [Billboard]

'Morning Becomes Eclectic' turns 30. Beck better be sending a card. [Pop Candy]

Country duo Sugarland gives Beyonce some twang. [PopEater]

"If you want to let your imagination run wild,

dip into a few Bible stories. Why take a trip on acid

when you can read the Bible?"

-- PJ Harvey in Rolling Stone

PJ Harvey's new album, 'White Chalk,' is just one month and some change away from its Sept. 25 release date, and while the piano-based effort -- a heavy, haunting affair -- is certain to polarize fans, this video of the enigmatic singer-songwriter performing the first single, 'When Under Ether,' live at the Copenhagen Opera House last year, is Harvey at her best: bare bones and bleeding.

We got a gander at the album cover for PJ Harvey's latest effort, due Sept. 25, and while intrigued by its gothic overtones, the art seemed rather familiar. Upon further inspection and a bevy of where-have-I-seen-this-before's, the cover appears to be inspired by 1861 painting by James Abbott McNeill Whistler. (Thank you high school art teacher, Mrs. Pesoat!) Exhibit A: The dress. Exhibit B: The curly mane. Exhibit C: The titles of each project -- Harvey's 'White Chalk' vs. Whistler's 'The White Girl.'

Let's get this straightaway: Uh Huh Her is a Los Angeles-based band -- musician/actress Leisha Hailey and singer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Camila Grey (Mellowdrone, Dr. Dre, Melissa Auf Der Maur) -- named after a PJ Harvey B-side from the identically titled 2004 PJ Harvey album.

"It's a great song," Grey tells Spinner of the Harvey tune and subsequent band name. "And we just liked the way it sounded, really."

Uh Huh Her, who released their debut EP, 'I See Red,' this week, marks Hailey's formal return to music after her previous outfit the Murmurs, and later, Gush, disbanded more than five years ago. Though she garnered success with her portrayal of journalist Alice Pieszecki on Showtime's 'The L Word,' Hailey, who's currently in Vancouver shooting the show's fifth season, considers herself equal parts musician and actress. "I don't feel torn at all," she says. "I find that they inspire each other. They help me, especially with the live show. In a way, you're playing someone else when you're onstage. As far as time commitment goes, it's hard. But it's how I like to live [laughs]. I'm an overachiever. It's kinda my thing."

To complete the unholy yet wholly divine trinity of "hips, tits and lips," PJ Harvey will release 'White Chalk' -- the follow-up 2004's 'Uh Huh Her' -- on September 25. Spinner confirmed the release with a representative from Island Records.

Harvey began writing material for the self-described piano-based album last year, and debuted new songs including 'Bitter Little Bird,' 'The Mountain' and 'When Under Ether,' at various solo festival performances. After the sporadic road tests, she entered the studio in November with former bandmate and guitarist John Parish, as well as producer Flood, who collaborated with Harvey on 1997's 'Is This Desire?'

The ever-elusive Polly Jean is scheduled to perform as part of the Manchester International Festival and Summercase Festival next month, on July 7 and 13-14, respectively.

Watch PJ Harvey's performance of new number 'Bitter Little Bird,' from last year's New Yorker Festival, after the jump.