PJ Harvey, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea

Impressions: I completely missed out on one Polly Jean Harvey, for whatever reason, in the ’90s. Maybe I was too busy listening to Korn, or Staind, or Puddle of Mudd or something. Well, that’s not true, but let’s hear what she’s got… Leads off with an Y2K, alt-y guitar rock opener “Big Exit” with a suitably huge chorus. PJ has an expressive voice, all the way from shout to crooning. In some ways, she almost seems like a female update of Iggy Pop, even in diminutive stature. The jangly “Good Fortune” has a nice little hook and sort of a Them “Gloria” guitar thing going on. So far, this album is solid meat-and-potatoes alt-rock (if there is such a thing,) but not getting me in the gut. I don’t know why she doesn’t connect with me. Songs like “A Place Called Home” and “One Line” have some urgency to the vocal but the music plays it safe, maybe in order to get on the radio? “The Whores Hustle and The Hustlers Whore” is in the running for best song name yet, and it’s a pretty good little up-tempo number. “The Mess We’re In” is probably my favorite track, a fractured, intimate duet with guest vocalist Thom Yorke. Toward the back half of the record, the songs grew on me a little more, but, at this point, I feel like I’m straining to be polite. There’s definitely craft there, but this album is like a diet drink everyone loves that just doesn’t satisfy my palette. Call it PJ Harvey Zero.