The Hope Six Demolition Project

PJ Harvey’s ninth album of stormy, spectral blues-rock feels like a kind of sequel to 2011’s <i>Let England Shake</i>. This time, she maps her apocalyptic vision onto America. Led by the eerie, anthemic “The Community of Hope”, <i>The Hope Six Demolition Project</i> strikes Harvey’s inimitable balance between ethereal and direct, ghostly and gut-punching. The military choruses (“The Ministry of Defence”), blues stomps (“The Ministry of Social Affairs”) and haunted, New Orleans-style shuffles (“Medicinals”) here are all anchored by her plaintive howl.