It's a mood she interprets in a more contemporary way on an almost fully formed version of "The Last Living Rose" that makes for one of the best songs on either version of Let England Shake. Her crone-like wail on "England" speaks to an anguished love that's greater and more painful than any romance chronicled on her previous records. As is often the case on her demo albums, her voice is the main attraction on Let England Shake: The Demos. Arguably, it's a scarier listen the demo of "The Glorious Land" sounds even more like a twisted version of the kind of patriotic songs children learn in school, and "On Battleship Hill" affords more space for Harvey's keening soprano to evoke decades of lingering pain. Let England Shake: The Demos offers a parallel universe version of the album that throws its extremes of beauty and ugliness, compassion and cruelty, into sharp relief. In its finished, Mercury Prize-winning form, the album draws on all of Harvey's experience as it breaks new artistic ground: Dry's folk-inspired narratives, Rid of Me's intensity, the globe-trotting tales of Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, and the unearthly terror of Is This Desire? and White Chalk can all be heard in its sweep. PJ Harvey began the 2010s with Let England Shake, a strikingly prescient masterpiece that touched on thorny issues - nationalism, war, the complex relationship one can have with one's homeland - that only grew more fraught and more relevant as the years passed.
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