PJ Harvey: Uh Huh Her

Reviewed by RUSSELL BAILLIE

Herald rating: * * *

It's not the first time in her career that PJ Harvey's new album seems to be an allergic reaction to its predecessor. The enigmatic English singer-songwriter had a commercial breakthrough of sorts on her last Stories of the City, Stories of the Sea, which also won her Britain's Mercury Prize and a wider audience.

But just as she followed up her startling 1992 debut Dry with the abrasively angry Rid Of Me and delivered the inferior Is This Desire after 1995's terrific To Bring You My Love, this one seems to be another deliberate backwards step.

Rather than the rich production and romantic heart of its predecessor, Uh Huh Her is a return to a PJ Harvey only a long-term fan could love.

It's a spare, raw and guttural affair with Harvey playing everything except for the drums from long-time-collaborator Rob Ellis. Which means there are some sketchy glorified demo numbers like Cat In the Wall rubbing their bony shoulders with punk-blues shrieks of What the ****? with just a few darkly lovely songs like Shame and the closing The Darker Days of Me & Him.

As always, she continues to sound quite like no one else but the slight disappointment here is just how much she sounds like her bitter old self.

(Island)