"To Bring You My Love" has me completely baffled. It's the only PJ Harvey album to contain a proper hit, "Down By The Water". (Typical response to this song: "PJ Harvey? I thought that was Tori Amos.") Its pacing and mercilessly in-your-face production make this album an exercise in patience and puzzling. The opening title track is enough to turn off the casual listener, with stoner-rock slowness and Harvey's refusal to hurry the vocal progression. I'm not saying this is a bad album - I'm saying it's challenging and complicated.
The ghost of the blues haunts this record. There are no turnarounds or classical blues structure, but Harvey's voice is smoky and sweet, (She's clearly a siren of some kind.) and some of this music is sad, though none of it sounds angry or depressed - this is the music of survivors, not victims. However, there's no mistaking "To Bring You My Love" for anything but a rock and roll album, especially once we start the 2nd half of the album with the head-banging "Long Snake Moan". This song uses much the same pacing as the rest of the album, but we get to hear Harvey really open up her voice to show us her soulful side. Harvey's vocal performance coupled with a fantastic wall of noise reminiscent of other Flood-produced jams like Smashing Pumpkins' "Tonight, Tonight or Nine Inch Nails' "Wish" gives us maybe the best song on the album in "Long Snake Moan".
I can't fault anyone who thought Tori Amos sang "Down By The Water." On this track, Harvey sings delicately about water and women over a cold electronic melody and a cello. It really would make a great Tori song.
I've listened to "To Bring You My Love" a lot lately, trying to figure it out, and I still don't get it. There's a certain dark beauty in this music, but it's really very ethereal. I try to hear shapes and patterns in this music, but it morphs and sounds different the next time. I'm honestly not sure I entirely trust this album. There could be something very redemptive going on here, or there could be something monstrous.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
We have to talk about rape.
I am angry. A dear friend who I've loved for a long time recently came out as a rape survivor. I wish I could say I was shocked. I'm not. Rape is commonplace, and therefore I am angry. Disagree with my premise if you will, but I urge you to look it up. I've been shocked by the numbers, the chronic underreporting, the codes of silence and the constant belittlement of the survivors, so I am not shocked by one more sad story. I am angry, and my voice is my weapon.
All I can do is speak out. I will not fight anyone; I will not do violence to even the basest of my fellow humans. I WILL shed verbal light on rape culture, and I WILL work openly and constructively to manifest a world free of the oppression of patriarchy. I will tell the men in my circle that their joke is not funny: it's all I can do. It's enough, though. Though I hope I never have to again, I will listen to the women who come out to me. I will BELIEVE THEM, and be angry on their behalf. It's all I can do, but it makes a difference.
One night when I was angry about rape, I went into a large field with a heavy bag - the kind one uses for boxing practice - and an aluminum baseball bat. I stood in that field and screamed till I was hoarse and beat that heavy bag like it was everything I had ever hated in the world. This was a beautiful night in my life because I learned that my anger was very real and very healthy. Some things are worth being angry about. I also learned that I can use that anger to fuel change. I am a different person because I met my anger that night. I urge all of you who are angry with me to beat the crap out of a heavy bag.
When you're done, come back and join the conversation. Let's talk about a future without patriarchy. Let's talk about a future where everyone gets to express strength and gentleness without being held to arbitrary gender-based standards. We're still a few generations away, but we're on our way. We still seem stuck on some dangerous old ideas about what it means to be men and women.
Rape is, at its core, an expression of patriarchal power. This is bad news because globally speaking, patriarchy is everywhere. However, this is good news because it means we can grow past it as a species. That growth starts with me and my anger.
All I can do is speak out. I will not fight anyone; I will not do violence to even the basest of my fellow humans. I WILL shed verbal light on rape culture, and I WILL work openly and constructively to manifest a world free of the oppression of patriarchy. I will tell the men in my circle that their joke is not funny: it's all I can do. It's enough, though. Though I hope I never have to again, I will listen to the women who come out to me. I will BELIEVE THEM, and be angry on their behalf. It's all I can do, but it makes a difference.
One night when I was angry about rape, I went into a large field with a heavy bag - the kind one uses for boxing practice - and an aluminum baseball bat. I stood in that field and screamed till I was hoarse and beat that heavy bag like it was everything I had ever hated in the world. This was a beautiful night in my life because I learned that my anger was very real and very healthy. Some things are worth being angry about. I also learned that I can use that anger to fuel change. I am a different person because I met my anger that night. I urge all of you who are angry with me to beat the crap out of a heavy bag.
When you're done, come back and join the conversation. Let's talk about a future without patriarchy. Let's talk about a future where everyone gets to express strength and gentleness without being held to arbitrary gender-based standards. We're still a few generations away, but we're on our way. We still seem stuck on some dangerous old ideas about what it means to be men and women.
Rape is, at its core, an expression of patriarchal power. This is bad news because globally speaking, patriarchy is everywhere. However, this is good news because it means we can grow past it as a species. That growth starts with me and my anger.
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