In 2023, PJ Harvey wrapped up a tour of the UK and Europe, published her grand album I Inside the Old Year Dying, and gave a Tiny Desk concert for NPR. It was a full year of poetry and new music by the amazing British artist. And 2024 is looking even more active for the artist. Earlier this week, PJ Harvey was at Michael Werner, reading a selection of poems of her friend Don Van Vliet in celebration of the exhibition of his paintings “Standing on One Hand” on view through 17 February at the gallery.

Following these busy live activations and new album, PJ Harvey has received a GRAMMY nomination for Best Alternative Music Album. The awards will take place on 4th February 2024 in Los Angeles.

In February 2022, the prolific artist started posting pictures of herself at the recording studio for the album. She stated that a new album would be published in 2023 in an interview with The Observer from April 2022. She declared in June 2022 that she had completed the album and planned to release it in the middle of 2023. She made references to the upcoming release of new songs during 2023.

Harvey noted that the album required “many years of work” and “was a difficult album to make” because it “took time to find its strongest form, but it has finally become all [she] hoped for it to be” in a statement released on April 25, 2023, the day the album was announced. Her epic poem “Orlam” served as inspiration, and producers Flood helped with some improvisation.

From 10th April 2024, the National Theatre will stage London Tide, based on Charles Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend, adapted by Ben Power with songs by PJ Harvey and Ben Power. Across the city, two young women confront an uncertain future. In Limehouse, Lizzie Hexam struggles to break free of the river and its dark secrets. “On the other side of town, Bella Wilfer mourns a lost marriage. The appearance of the mysterious John Rokesmith has the potential to change their lives for ever. Will they sink or swim? This romantic and propulsive thriller is a hymn to the city and the river that runs through it.”

–

Image: Steve Gullick