PJ Harvey announces new album with enchanting single, ‘A Child’s Question, August’

PJ Harvey has announced her upcoming 10th album, ‘I Inside The Old Year Dying’ with the release of the lead single, ‘A Child’s Question, August’. Check out the track below.

Shared today (April 26), the new single follows a series of teasers shared by Harvey on social media, and follows on from her last full-length LP with 2016’s ‘The Hope Six Demolition Project’.

According to the double Mercury Prize-winning artist, ‘I Inside The Old Year Dying’, was written over a period of three weeks, although stemmed from ideas dating back to 2017 when she felt she had lost her connection with music.

Seeking to revive her connection with songwriting, the inspiration for the new tracks was uncovered following advice from film-maker Steve McQueen, who told her to ignore the ‘process of writing an album’, and instead rediscover why she first fell in love with “words, images and music”.

The album will see the singer-songwriter return to her roots – inspired by the likes of Nina Simone and Bob Dylan – and provide fans with “a resting space, a solace, a comfort, a balm” which is created to feel “timely for the times we’re in.”

Today also sees Harvey share the first single from the LP, ‘A Child’s Question, August’. Coming in at just shy of three minutes long, the enchanting track captures the feeling of solace mentioned by Harvey, and features a music video directed by Steve Gullick.

‘I Inside The Old Year Dying’, is set for release on July 7 via Partisan, and is produced by long-time collaborators Flood and John Parish. Pre-order the album here.

Discussing her time working with both of the producers, Harvey also adds that the LP came to life through a series of “spontaneous performances”, which were “recorded at the moment of their creation. “The studio was set up for live play, and that’s all we did,” she explained.

“I think the album is about searching, looking – the intensity of first love, and seeking meaning,” she said. “Not that there has to be a message, but the feeling I get from the record is one of love – it’s tinged with sadness and loss, but it’s loving. I think that’s what makes it feel so welcoming: so open.”

The full ‘I Inside the Old Year Dying’ tracklist is:

1. ‘Prayer at the Gate’
2. ‘Autumn Term’
3. ‘Lwonesome Tonight’
4. ‘Seem an I’
5. ‘The Nether-edge’
6. ‘I Inside the Old Year Dying’
7. ‘All Souls’
8. ‘A Child’s Question, August’
9. ‘I Inside the Old I Dying’
10. ‘August’
11. ‘A Child’s Question, July’
12. ‘A Noiseless Noise’

PJ Harvey first began teasing fans with the prospect of new music in February last year, when she shared a series of photographs of her in the studio, hinting that the new project was underway.

Later that year, she told Rolling Stone that she was “very pleased” with the upcoming project, and was seeking to release it in 2023.

In the time following her last LP, ‘The Hope Six Demolition Project’, the artist has worked on a series of other projects. These include composing the complete score for the All About Eve stage play [2019] and contributing to the soundtrack of the Apple TV+ series Bad Sisters.