Pitchfork

PJ Harvey has worn many masks this decade. Dry displayed the poetry of a woman whose innocence was not naivete. On Rid of Me, she was all grown, and so was her anger. To Bring You My Love was almost too grown, what with the evening gowns and operatics. And Dance Hall at Louse Point was both a melancholy art-house album and a celebration of collaboration: Harvey wrote the lyrics, but left the music to long- time collaborator John Parish. The one constant throughout has been Harvey's mesmerizing emotional outpouring, which is neither as precious as Tori Amos' nor as theatrically tortured as Courtney Love's. In other words, Harvey seems to have a grasp on her feelings, even if they occasionally consume her.

The one exception may be "Joy" from her new album, Is This Desire? The bleak tale is framed by a foghorn bassline and razor-cut percussion that's industrial and dated-- no doubt the doing of increasingly irrelevant producer Flood-- but Harvey's wailing lends the track dissonance and desperation: "No hope for Joy/ No hope or faith/ I've been believing in nothing since the day I was born/ It never was a question.") It's almost too painful to listen to, yet coming nine songs in as it does, it's understandable.

Is This Desire? is, for all intents and purposes, a collection of bleak short stories. When Harvey gently mutters "My first name Angelene/ Prettiest mess you've ever seen" on the opening track, it's her voice you hear, but an imaginary soul she's conjuring. Likewise on the first single, "A Perfect Day Elise," in which she cryptically recounts a man's desperate love (or lust) for two women.

Flood's electro- heavy production can be overbearing, but when he gets the balance right, it reveals a haunting side of Harvey. A great example of this is the broodish "My Beautiful Leah," which is reminiscent of Harvey's work with Tricky. Harvey reveals another, softer side through the elegant piano work of "The River," yet it all seems a means to properly stage her stories.

On the title track, Harvey forgoes much of the blunted sampling for a muted guitar and a simple question: Is happiness desire? The answer is not easy, and as with most of the tracks, Harvey cuts the story short, leaving satisfied curiosity for those who don't need everything explained and frustration for those who do.

Is This Desire? is yet another evolution for a musician whose career has become synonymous with change. Some may long for the PJ that told us she was "Happy and Bleeding," or the girl that proclaimed herself the "50 Foot Queenie," but Harvey seems intent on trying out every mask, and with each new one comes yet another set of emotions that's neither better nor worse than the last-- it's simply different.