The Hope Six Demolition Project is here, and it’s been way too long a wait to experience Polly Jean Harvey’s talents again. Because you don’t listen to her music, you experience her magnificence. Okay?

Good. It seems like an aeon since this album was announced to be in the making, with reports that PJ would be recording in an open front studio where the public could wander by and have a gawk at a musical genius doing musically genius things with other musical geniuses. It’s just one of the things that make this album seem more than just a musical entity, and more like a years-long entry into PJ’s life diary.

Even for fans, this album might seem not so easy to access at first; it’s an ethereal experience that places you in the journeys that Harvey undertook to arrive at the destination. Afghanistan, Kosovo and Washington D.C. are three of the most dangerous places on earth and it’s where the album takes us, something that the plethora of reviews that flooded the net in the last week seemed to mention without fail. And it is important, with the songs being small parts of the whole, journal entries placed to music placed to places. You can almost feel yourself watching voyeuristically from the sidelines, not quite as prominent as PJ was when gaining inspiration from the raw and unglamourous sights she took in.

Look, this album is way too layered and complex to sum up with any believed conviction on a biking lifestyle site, and there are plenty of others having a good go at it. Ultimately, Hope Six does what Harvey wanted it to do; bring the commotion, the desperation and violence of the world to the rest of us, through the theme of hope and joy in the face of adversity. From the first listen when you think “this isn’t going to be easy” the record grows and reveals more of itself with each sitting… it’ll only be a couple more listens before I’m declaring ‘masterpiece’. Fuck it, I’m doing it now.

*Since this article was written I’ve come to discover many disturbing things about Harvey, her cohorts and practices. I can no longer listen to her music, and the knowledge of how these people and the wider entertainment industry operates has sickened me to the core. It’s very saddening to realise our heroes are scum.