(Island)The 2015 winner of the Nobel prize for literature,Belarus-based writer Svetlana Alexievich interviews ordinary people approximately their experiences, unveiling the harrowing human underbelly to recent Russian history: the Soviet war in Afghanistan; the Chernobyl catastrophe.
The Hope Six Demolition Project, and PJ Harvey’s latest album,is best understood as a kindred sort of reportage, one delivered via guitar, and saxophone and gospel choir. That’s not to say it hasn’t got some tunes. Near the Memorials to Vietnam and Lincoln nags and nags; the magnificent The Ministry of Defence grabs your lapels with its apocalyptic chords and Harvey’s sinuous vocal melody,simultaneously accusative and minxish. Dollar, Dollar ends things with a mournful, organ-led coda in which Harvey notes “all my words get swallowed”.
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Source: theguardian.com