PJ Harvey’s new album – the one recorded in a glass box installation piece – is set to be released on April 15. The Hope Six Demolition Project is the British artist’s ninth studio album, and was recorded in London’s Somerset House in a one-way glass box as a public sound sculpture.
In the video, Harvey belts poetry. The track-listing of the new album (included below) gives some hints as to the political nature of the album, although most of it remains cryptic. NME suggested that the title of the album might be an allusion to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development programme.
The songs for the album were written while Harvey was travelling between Kosovo, Afghanistan and Washington D.C. She travelled with with seven-time World Press Photo award-winner Seamus Murphy, collaborating together on a book of anti-war poetry and photography, titled The Hollow of the Hand, which was released in October. She also debuted new songs from the album alongside Murphy’s photography during a multimedia performance at London’s Royal Festival Hall.
“Gathering information from secondary sources felt too far removed for what I was trying to write about.” Harvey said in a press release about the Kosovo-Washington project. “I wanted to smell the air, feel the soil and meet the people of the countries I was fascinated with.”
Although the album teaser only gives snippets of Harvey’s new material, a full version of ‘The Wheel’, which is featured in the trailer, can be heard via the BBC.
The Hope Six Demolition Project by PJ Harvey is released April 15.
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