PJ Harvey has announced her comeback single “A Child’s Question, August” will be released tomorrow (26th April). The legendary English singer-songwriter took to Twitter to share snippets of the new track as well as clips from inside the studio debuting the song’s haunting sound. Pre-save the new single here and listen to rich guitar-heavy scraps below:
PJ Harvey’s new song ‘A Child’s Question, August’ is out this Wednesday April 26th. Pre-save here https://t.co/Tx8mfeO3nT
Here’s a clip from the accompanying music video directed by #SteveGullick. pic.twitter.com/zym1cZgDuH
— PJ Harvey (@PJHarveyUK) April 24, 2023
Yesterday, Polly Jean Harvey shared the title and release date of the single online. Fans’ speculations over the possibility of new imminent PJ music were confirmed when the singer shared clips on the 19th April of herself and longtime collaborators John Parish and Flood in the studio.
A new playlist is now available on Spotify, featuring tracks co-produced alongside @JohnParish50 and Flood: https://t.co/TUAnzOjwWk
New studio clip filmed, directed and edited by #SteveGullick. pic.twitter.com/EWIHnTpzfA
— PJ Harvey (@PJHarveyUK) April 19, 2023
In celebration of the new material, the artist has also shared that she has made a new playlist available on Spotify featuring tracks from her back catalog produced by Parish and Flood. Listen below:
Prolific English photographer Steve Gullick (who has photographed Harvey as well as Elliott Smith, Kurt Cobain, Mark E Smith, Björk, Nick Cave, and Lou Reed, to name a handful of musical icons) directed the music video for “A Child’s Question, August”, which will accompany the single.
A year ago, PJ let slip to the Observer in her first interview in ten years that her 10th studio solo album was indeed on its way. “I’m really pleased with it,” she said, “and I’m my own harshest critic”. She also confirmed in her Rolling Stone interview last year we could expect it this summer. Now it seems that the wait for the LP is nearly over.
Harvey’s been busy since her last studio album, 2016’s The Hope Six Demolition Project, was released seven years ago. Her first full-length narrative poem, Orlam, which took six years to write, was published last year. A coming-of-age story written in the Dorset dialect, it was applauded for its blending of light and dark and visceral nature imagery. She’s also worked on two soundtracks: one instrumental for the 2019 stage adaptation of All About Eve featuring Gillian Anderson and Lily James and another for the 2022 Irish TV series Bad Sisters alongside Tim Phillips.
Over the last three years, the artist has also shared previously unheard demos for all her studio albums. Talking to Rolling Stone about her decision to release the demos she said, “I think because a lot of time had passed since making those demos and now, it felt like a nice thing to do. To let people in, to see a little more of the process, how the songs first start”.
