Albums to watch

The Hope Six Demolition Project

PJ Harvey

The Hope Six Demolition Project

Ninth album from the alt.rock singer-songwriter and her first since the Mercury Prize-winning 2011 release Let England Shake

ADM rating[?]

7.4

Label
Island
UK Release date
15/04/2016
US Release date
15/04/2016
  1. 9.1 |   Pretty Much Amazing

    For those seeking guidance with regard to broken governments, armed conflict, and debilitating poverty—maybe reach for a book, not a pop album. If it’s solace you’re after, The Hope Six Demolition Project has a few remarkable tunes you might want to hear
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  2. 9.0 |   musicOMH

    Her music is always so distinctly hers, and she remains one of the most distinctive and thrilling voices we have
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  3. 9.0 |   Exclaim

    Implicates all of the Western world's complacency, making for a complex and challenging, though gorgeous, listen
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  4. 8.5 |   The Quietus

    An exhilarating affair – a political album whose most daring gesture is its refusal to evangelise or furnish easy comforts
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  5. 8.5 |   Under The Radar

    This is a record blessed with a musical identity rich enough to avoid becoming part of the kicking-against-the-pricks, politically-charged LP lexicon—despite the bluntness of its subject matter
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  6. 8.0 |   God Is In The TV

    This is travel writing, rather than polemic
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  7. 8.0 |   The Independent

    Despondency runs through The Hope Six Demolition Project, making for an unsettling ride
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  8. 8.0 |   The Irish Times

    Such a record could have buckled under a lack of narrative conviction, but Harvey walks towards political landmines without flinching
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  9. 8.0 |   The Guardian

    By anybody else’s standards, it would be a triumph, but it’s hard to escape the feeling that Harvey was after something more than a hugely enjoyable, potent-sounding album stuffed with great tunes – in which case, she’ll have to settle for a qualified success
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  10. 8.0 |   No Ripcord

    Even if she sheds light on these issues, will that help change anything for the better? Harvey leaves the question hanging, but proves why she needed to write this album. She isn't sure if a musician can help the world. But it's better to try than to do nothing
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  11. 8.0 |   FasterLouder

    Decay is the prevailing theme on the album, emanating from the pores of nearly every track
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  12. 8.0 |   Uncut

    Harvey’s ninth studio album takes the temperature of our times. Print edition only

  13. 8.0 |   Q

    A heavyweight tour de force, and Polly Harvey’s most fully-realised album to date. Print edition only

  14. 8.0 |   Mojo

    She has created careful reportage, combining the debris of war and strife for significant detail, meaningful resonances. Print edition only

  15. 8.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    It is another stupendous record, of the sort nobody else is making, or probably could make. Through all her changing shapes, Harvey remains one of a kind
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  16. 8.0 |   Loud And Quiet

    It’s a disorienting album, but written by someone trying to make sense of something alien and repulsive when at the same time compelling and mesmeric
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  17. 8.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    The best out-and-out rock record that Harvey’s made since Uh Huh Her
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  18. 8.0 |   The Music

    PJ Harvey has again made another important and challenging record
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  19. 8.0 |   Time Out

    Often feels as if it’s been written, as well as recorded, behind glass. Perhaps that was the point all along
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  20. 8.0 |   NOW

    Harvey sings with unshakeable poise, and her melodies are as sticky as ever - to the point where you can imagine some songs working as barroom singalongs
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  21. 8.0 |   The List

    We feel like tourists, and we feel like she’s a tourist too. Away from any deeper expectations, however, the musical quality is relentless
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  22. 8.0 |   Evening Standard

    Harvey’s urgent, evocative songs are as powerful as ever
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  23. 7.6 |   Pitchfork

    On a fascinating and flawed new album, PJ Harvey yokes the siren-like catchiness of her last great America-influenced album, Stories From the City… to the swamp-tarnished filth of her classic first three records
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  24. 7.5 |   A.V. Club

    It’s another fascinating and uncompromising career achievement, though one that’s necessarily a bit too detached
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  25. 7.2 |   Sputnik Music (staff)

    Even if it may capture her in a moment between masterpieces, it doesn’t make her music any less enthralling or her cause any less compelling

  26. 7.0 |   All Music

    While it's just one piece of a bigger work, on its own the album isn't as satisfying as its predecessor
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  27. 7.0 |   Spin

    Much of it, especially the singles, adds something to her catalog, even if the most valuable takeaways are the questions it raises
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  28. 7.0 |   Gig Soup

    Among Harvey's blunt observations, this album offers some flashes of musical brilliance to enjoy while contemplating just what the overall message is
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  29. 7.0 |   Clash

    It’s uncomfortable and at times awkward, but maybe that’s the point
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  30. 7.0 |   Crack

    The connections between her lyrical inspirations and her intent aren’t easy to decipher, but the power of her delivery mirrors the determination of an artist who’s never afraid to embrace the pain
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  31. 7.0 |   Rolling Stone

    One of her most challenging albums, and one of her most urgent
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  32. 7.0 |   Beardfood

    Her attempt at a Kendrick Lamar rivalling epiphany maps the route that the album takes lyrically
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  33. 6.7 |   Consequence Of Sound

    Polly Jean awkwardly blends journalism and rock
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  34. 6.5 |   Spectrum Culture

    This may be Harvey’s weakest album in some time, but its sonic ambition reaffirms how exciting the artist remains
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  35. 6.5 |   Earbuddy

    The lyrics and themes overshadow the exciting, varied instrumentation on PJ Harvey's latest
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  36. 6.0 |   PopMatters

    Harvey's ninth album buzzes with energy, but her stories, for the first time, often make her sound like a tourist unable to scratch the surface of the places she documents
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  37. 6.0 |   The Observer

    If the fact-finding is foreseeably bleak, sometimes the resulting songs don’t quite gel, either
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  38. 6.0 |   Slant Magazine

    The songs on The Hope Six Demolition Project all sit in a similar remove, in a calculated pose that feels half premeditated, half a failure of the project
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  39. 6.0 |   State

    What ultimately drives the record is the conviction for change in the world. Harvey paints the picture then leaves it up to the listener to take it from there
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  40. 6.0 |   DIY

    This isn’t the best or the bravest music of her career, but Harvey continues to pave new ground
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  41. 6.0 |   NME

    The follow-up to 'Let England Shake' is unsettling and infectious, but too vague to hit hard
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  42. 6.0 |   The Arts Desk

    There's a fine line between social commentary and the poverty-as-entertainment format
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  43. 4.0 |   The Skinny

    PJ Harvey's least beautiful record by some distance, The Hope Street Demolition Project's intentions are admirable and inarguable. But weighed against the expectations raised by the overwhelming invention of her stout back catalogue, it falls uncomfortably short
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PJ Harvey: The Hope Six Demolition Project

  • Download full album for just £9.49
  • 1. The Community Of Hope £0.99
  • 2. The Ministry Of Defence £0.99
  • 3. A Line In The Sand £0.99
  • 4. Chain Of Keys £0.99
  • 5. River Anacostia £0.99
  • 6. Near The Memorials To Vietnam And Lincoln £0.99
  • 7. The Orange Monkey £0.99
  • 8. Medicinals £0.99
  • 9. The Ministry Of Social Affairs £0.99
  • 10. The Wheel £0.99
  • 11. Dollar, Dollar £0.99
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