PJ Harvey
Dry
While other so-called feminists frequently exploit and subconsciously reinforce the very stereotypes they rail against—namely, that women are fragile victims—the real work gets done by those who reclaim and explode those stereotypes. In music, it’s the difference between getting your audience to imagine a rape and getting them to physically experience the emotionality of rape. One evokes sympathy—an inherently condescending emotion—the other, true understanding. PJ Harvey loads her debut album, Dry, with the sound of womanhood charging in every direction at once. She channels joy, anger, and every gray area in between. Then, she backs it up with lyrics filled with mythological, historical, and even pop-cultural references. Who else could turn “I’m gonna wash that man right out of my hair” into a rallying cry? On “Dress”—simultaneously the album’s most accessible and scathing song—the titular object becomes sexual power, a leering taunt, and indescribable loneliness. Every word, every turn-of-phrase overflows with multiple meanings. Even the album’s title has vaginal undertones. And don’t even get us started on the sheela-na-gig. You are either a Tori Amos person or a PJ Harvey person. We here at The Factual Opinion are not ashamed to say that we have chosen sides.
-Marty Brown, 2006
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