Uh Huh Her

Each album PJ Havey has released to date has rightfully earned acclaim unique to that of her preceding work. Such is now again the case with her latest album, the ingeniously titled Uh Huh Her. I’m not convinced. I’ve been circling around Uh Huh Her for weeks trying to find a genuine slant that makes the album inherently different from her other work and am just now, through this review, deciding to tap out. Uh Huh Her has elements of every past PJ album of past and, while that’s not fundamentally a bad thing (taking into account her reputation for steadily evolving her sound), it’s somewhat frustrating. 

Aside from longtime Harvey colleague Rob Ellis (drums), and an occasional backup vocal from uber-producer Flood, Uh Huh Her is wholly and utterly all PJ. That’s the hype: PJ played all the instruments, wrote and sang all the songs and, most impressively, joined Flood on production, recording, and mixing duties. As refreshing of an approach it may be, production methods and liner note semantics on their own are hardly enough to speak for Uh Huh Her‘s content.

“Bad Mouth” sounds like a stripped down outcast from 2000’s Mercury Prize-winning Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea album. PJ contrasts simple-grinding guitar rhythms with swaying background vocals, a softer second guitar, a pliant rhythm section and a subtle pianofor what builds to be one of her best moments to date. “Shame,” “You Come Through” and “Pocket Knife” employ a distant harpsichord, guitars and treated drums to sound similar to many of the less grating moments on 1998’s Is This Desire? album.

Due to its ambitious production, Stories‘ secrets came out through its elaborate compositions and massive sound. Rarely does Uh Huh Her even attempt to leave the garage. One exception is “The Letter,” a true stadium rocker complete with echo laden vocals, deep static guitar riffs and choppy drums. “The Radio” joins “The Letter” as UHH‘s other over-riffed sure-shot, making for two of the albums most refined and momentous songs.

“The Slow Drug” builds slowly into a dreamy, whispy song again reminiscent of PJ’s Rid of Me period. Like “The Slow Drug,” “No Child of Mine” is another simple, soft vocal-driven song that feels underdone and, despite it’s catchiness, very unessential and underwhelming. The vocals and writing on “It’s You” sound very much like To Bring You My Love, while it’s overall atmosphere is directly suggestive of the Perfect Day Elise EP. As UHH winds down, so does PJ’s efficacy; employing one track of distant accordions, another track of far off seagulls, the forgettable “The End” and the almost great closer, “The Darker Days of Me and Him,” UHH takes it’s time to die.

Uh Huh Her has the girl-power moments of Dry, the art rock attitude of Rid of Me, the songwriter mystique of To Bring You My Love, the sweet, soft, effective production of Is This Desire? and the occasional over-textured madness of Stories. The only thing truly unique about Uh Huh Her is the methods employed while recording it. PJ fans rest assured: UHH is a solid collection of songs that click, just not quite with the staying power of her previous work. The big moments are huge and, while there isn’t a bad track on the album, Uh Huh Her ends up feeling like a speed bump in PJ’s otherwise perfect career. PJ is too good to sound so half-baked.   6.5/10

Written by G. William Locke