A Woman A Man Walked By

Polly Jean Harvey isn't exactly a restless creative spirit, given the consistency of her themes and the familiar emotional landscape of her songs. Nevertheless, she's been changing things up from the very beginning, starting with the shift from her near-perfect debut Dry to the bone-rattling game-changer Rid of Me and on through any other number of career zigs and zags, some more successful than others. Since disbanding her original trio, but especially since her breakout To Bring You My Love, Harvey has lost some of her intense focus, leading her to branch out to a tandem-billed collaboration in 1996 with John Parish, Dance Hall at Louse Point, and continuing up through her harrowing hey-why-not-piano? album White Chalk. Given all the ups and downs, perhaps it makes sense that Harvey should return to favored catalyst Parish for another collaborative go-round. Granted, Parish has been collaborating with Harvey as a producer and musician for years, even before Dry, but his co-billed discs with her offer him much more input, particularly considering that he's working with one of the music world's more imposing auteurs.