PJ Harvey’s I Inside the Old Year Dying opens with a whining guitar, which serves as a kind of warm embrace for fans of the often abrasive alt-rock that defined the singer-songwriter’s early work. The album abounds in curious and compelling guitar tones, stretching and mutating across “Autumn Term” and gathering like a smoky haze on “August.” Sometimes, the guitar work plays up the album’s contrasts: The title track, for one, is driven by a triumphant acoustic guitar while an electric one howls and snarls in the background.
Perhaps most reminiscent of albums like 1993’s Rid of Me is the maelstrom of dissonance that Harvey and frequent collaborator John Parish fire up on the album’s thrilling closing track, “A Noiseless Noise,” after a fake-out of twinkling guitar and bird chirps. But despite acting as a delivery system for arresting six-string rockers, I Inside the Old Year Dying isn’t just a nostalgic retread. It might be Harvey’s first full-throated excursion into prog rock, a concept album written largely in Old English, based around a character named Wyman-Elvis.
The album’s lyrics wander fitfully from image to image, from curious references to “peanut and banana sandwiches” on “Lwonsome Tonight” to scenes of “chalky children” on multiple tracks, including the titular one. This can make for an occasionally confounding listening experience, but the confidence of Harvey’s songwriting, coupled with I Inside the Old Year Dying’s visceral sonic elements, beckon rather than discourage the listener.
Rather than trying to unpack every little reference or unexpected combination of modern and antique ideas, one is better served relishing in the obtuse, sometimes wacky yarns that Harvey spins and her unique form of world-building, which intentionally leaves blank spaces between actions and places she describes rather than doling out exposition and lore. This makes I Inside the Old Year Dying feel less like a fantasy rock opera than an immersive dip into the otherworldly. Blending past and present, Harvey playfully mentions Wordle on “Prayer at the Gate” and “The Nether-edge,” which could be referencing the popular word game or might be the name of a character, and sings of being “croopied in the reames” on the title track.
Three decades into her storied career, Harvey’s voice has retained its unique beauty, somehow plain yet expressively melodic on songs like “Lwonsome Tonight,” with yawning notes sustained for long stretches without a hint of faltering. Her vocals dip around and through the various guitar parts, as if in duet with them. Harvey sings in a cappella for over 30 seconds at the beginning of “Seem an I” before a righteous guitar line kicks in, while another guitar, resembling an errant radio transmission, bubbles up throughout the song.
The music throughout I Inside the Old Year Dying rattles and quakes in stark contrast with Harvey’s studiously composed intellectual exercises. Which is to say, this is an album that gives about as much as it asks in return, even if its medieval trappings and intentional obfuscation do risk letting listeners walk away feeling more bewildered than moved.
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