The Hope Six Demolition Project | ||||
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Studio album by PJ Harvey | ||||
Released | 15 April 2016 | |||
Recorded | 16 January 2015 – 14 February 2015 | |||
Studio | Somerset House, London, United Kingdom | |||
Genre | Alternative rock, indie rock, neo-psychedelia, folk rock, jazz fusion | |||
Length | 41:51 | |||
Label | ||||
Producer |
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PJ Harvey chronology | ||||
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Singles from The Hope Six Demolition Project | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Aggregate scores | |
Source | Rating |
AnyDecentMusic? | 7.4/10 |
Metacritic | 79/100 |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
The A.V. Club | B |
Chicago Tribune | |
The Guardian | |
The Independent | |
NME | 3/5 |
Pitchfork Media | 7.6/10 |
Q | |
Rolling Stone | |
Spin | 7/10 |
The Hope Six Demolition Project is the ninth studio album by English singer-songwriter and musician PJ Harvey released on 15 April 2016 on Island Records. The album is Harvey's first since her acclaimed Mercury Prize-winning album Let England Shake, released in 2011. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, the album was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album, her fourth nomination in that category and seventh nomination overall.
The album's title is a reference to the HOPE VI projects in the United States, "where run-down public housing in areas with high crime rates has been demolished to make room for better housing, but with the effect that many previous residents could no longer afford to live there, leading to claims of social cleansing." The HOPE VI program is directly referenced in the album's opening track and second single "The Community of Hope". The title is inspired by Harvey's trip to Washington D.C. with photographer/filmmaker Seamus Murphy where she was given a tour by Paul Schwartzman of The Washington Post, who directly influenced some of the lyrics on the song. Upon its release, the song drew criticism directly from politicians running for the council seat in Ward 7 in Washington, D.C.
Harvey wrote the songs for The Hope Six Demolition Project as well as her poetry book The Hollow of the Hand during her travels to Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Washington D.C. with photographer/filmmaker Seamus Murphy between 2011 and 2014.
The album was created in sessions open to the public as part of an art installation at Somerset House in London called Recording in Progress. The sessions were forty-five minutes each in length and began on 16 January 2015 and concluded on February 14, 2015. Viewers could see Harvey create the album through one-way glass with producers Flood and John Parish, who both worked on Harvey's previous album, Let England Shake.