Some thoughts upon hearing the new release, and second collaborative album from PJ Harvey and John Parish:

Thank the LORD for this album. I was getting worried there for a bit. Polly Jean's last two albums (White Chalk and Uh Huh Her) didn't quite make my hit list. I was afraid that nothing could ever compare to the way Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea or my all-time favorite Is This Desire made me feel. Those albums were life-changing for me, and pulled at my heart-strings like almost no other albums had before.

A Woman a Man Walked By reminds me of that old PJ - bare bones, poetic, growls, whispers, harsh and tender (hate that word, but totally appropriate). The songs that make me smile, laugh (watch out for the title track, it's like Peaches meets Satan meets Polly Jean - maybe not meant for the LOLs but they're there anyway), and close my eyes and cry ("Cracks In the Canvas").

The music video for Black Hearted Love is the epitome of what PJ means to me. Here's this skinny, fragile-looking woman, jumping on a children's bouncy gym, absolutely wailing. Black Hearted Love is my new Angelene. I'm excited to play the hell out of this until I do the inevitable - pull out all of my old albums and live in a PJ Harvey land for an entire month.