PJ Harvey’s ‘Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea’ hits 25 years old

I’m feeling old, but this classic breakthrough album for PJ Harvey hits 25 years old today. It’s a timeless classic that sounds just as fresh and direct today as it did on release. Electronic Press Kits were all the rage in the 90s and 2000s, and they filled the gap that a video blog or extended television commercial does today, but for an album. They still exist today, but are less common, and I wish they’d return or at very least, streamline vlogs into a cohesive end product.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary, PJ Harvey has uploaded the EPK for ‘Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea’. It is a mixture of footage taken from the 6 weeks of recording the album at Great Linford Manor in Buckinghamshire, UK. It’s fun hearing the drums for ‘Kamikaze’ on their own, playing around with cassette tapes for added noise, hearing the piano and bare vocals for ‘We Float’ (including a great chipmunk version), and seeing PJ Harvey and her team tackle recording in different ways. It seemed like a playful and productive time.

‘Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea’ had PJ Harvey at her most direct, glossy, and mainstream. It is a seminal album for rock artists, crammed full of catchy hooks and memorable choruses. Personal favourites include ‘A Place Called Home’, The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore’, ‘We Float’, and the bonus track ‘This Wicked Tongue’. There’s no filler on this 10/10 album, and if you want a place to start on your PJ Harvey journey, this would be it.

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