Every PJ Harvey album is an event, and this is no exception. Lyrically, England, death and war are recurring themes, and the music is an appropriately ghostly mixture of ethereal pop and folk. One of the best we've got, and in prime form. Now on a very limited price offer !

PJ Harvey’s Let England Shake was originally released on Valentine’s Day in 2011, but it’s anything but a love letter to England, specifically critiquing England’s involvement in conflict with imagery as strong as ‘soldiers fall like lumps of meat […] arms and legs were in the trees.’ Harvey’s lyrics paired with the high register she sings in augment the sense of pain she feels from the actions of her country. Instrumentally, brass instruments jar on occasion but act as a reminder of their jarring place in war. This album will forever remain a protest masterpiece.     FFO: Björk, Kate Bush, Joanna Newsom, Patti Smith. 

By Martha