{"id":84362,"date":"2023-10-02T20:55:23","date_gmt":"2023-10-02T18:55:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=84362"},"modified":"2023-10-06T20:48:20","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T18:48:20","slug":"spectral-feast-pj-harvey-enchants-in-sell-out-show-at-londons-roundhouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2023\/10\/spectral-feast-pj-harvey-enchants-in-sell-out-show-at-londons-roundhouse\/","title":{"rendered":"SPECTRAL FEAST – PJ Harvey Enchants In Sell Out Show At London’s Roundhouse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On record PJ Harvey<\/strong>‘s I Inside the Old Year Dying<\/a><\/em><\/strong> is a knotty, fragile creation. Sparse and intense, it’s a difficult, but ultimately fulfilling listen.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Fears it might feel underpowered in a live context are blown away within seconds of her taking the stage for the first of two sold out shows at the Camden Roundhouse<\/strong>.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The album, her first for seven years, is played in full in a theatrical performance elegantly staged by Ian Rickson<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

School bells ring to call us to attention as Harvey and her excellent band lead us through the 12-song set inspired by Orlam<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, her book of fictional narrative poetry told in her own Dorset vernacular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dressed in all white, Harvey ghosts about the stage, swooping bird-like one moment, reaching to mime picking fruit from a tree the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What seems fuzzy and slow to reveal itself on record, is vivid and immediate here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harvey’s voice, particularly on the higher notes is pristine and longtime collaborator John Parish<\/strong>‘s understated arrangements are clear and the playing precise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As on the record, field recordings – bird song, children’s laughter – flitter in an out, as Harvey sings, often lit in a spotlight like a beacon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She says little between songs, except to introduce special guest Colin Morgan<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merlin <\/em>actor<\/strong> Morgan reprises his backing vocals on the album’s haunting title track and steps in <\/strong>for fellow thesp Ben Whishaw<\/strong> on the warm-hearted August<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n