So, not exactly breaking news but, then again, this site doesn’t really do breaking news.
PJ Harvey won the UK’s 2011 Mercury Music Prize earlier this week for her album, Let England Shake. This is her second Mercury Prize. The first was ten years ago for her album, Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea. That win made her the first female to be awarded the prize. This week’s win makes her the first artist to win it twice. Definitely well deserved.
Let England Shake is easily one of the best albums of 2011 and, given the London riots that saw the city burning for days, it’s one of the most prescient. Twenty years and running, Harvey still seems somehow ahead of the curve.
She might be a superhero. Someone look into this.
Videos for all 12 songs from Let England Shake after the jump, plus information on the live iTunes session being released September 12.
PJ Harvey on her award:
“I think there is a connection between what happened 10 years ago and the content of this album, in a certain way. Obviously this record that I’ve won with is largely about the wars that we’re involved in, contemporary wars, but also, I wanted in a way for it to be timeless, because we’ve always been involved in wars. But I think that the greater urgency that I felt to write an album about this now is because of the result of what has happened in the last ten years.”
“I feel surprised and astonished that I’ve won twice and I do feel proud, it’s amazing, I can’t quite take it in but at the same time I feel that making music and words is very important to me and I’ve always tried to make it the best it could possibly be and I hope to continue doing that. I hope to be back here again in another 10 years’ time with another record because it’s very important to me to keep making word that is of relevance, not just to myself but to other people.”
Here’s Harvey performing “The Words That Maketh Murder” at the Mercury Prize Ceremony:
Check out 12 short films by Seamus Murphy for each song on Let England Shake.
“Let England Shake”
“The Last Living Rose”
“The Glorious Land”
“The Words That Maketh Murder”
“All & Everyone”
“On Battleship Hill”
“England”
“In The Dark Places”
“Bitter Branches”
“Hanging On The Wire”
“Written On The Forehead”
“The Colour Of The Earth”
You can grab Let England Shake from iTunes here or Amazon here.
Also, on September 12, PJ Harvey’s live iTunes session will be released featuring seven songs and an interview. Surprise, surprise; you can pre-order the session from iTunes here. Track list below:
iTunes Session track listing:1. Let England Shake2. The Words That Maketh Murder3. The Last Living Rose4. Written On The Forehead5. Angelene6. C’Mon Billy7. Down By The Water8 – Interview –
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