PJ Harvey: Distant songs of Gallipoli

One of the great British disasters during the First World War was the Gallipoli battle, during which, after the apparently successful landing of the French and British troops, there remained atrapados in the Helles cape. As well as a considerable loss of war ships, it was estimated that the human loss in the the British army had reached a quarter of a million, with around 50,000 soldier´s lives lost. The disaster then had inevitable political repercussions, bringing about the disgrace of Winston Churchill, who had been the main promotor of the campaign, and a legendary ´national hero´ status to General Atatürk who would be the founder, and first president of the modern Turkish republic.

During the Gallipoli battle, as with other battles since the beginning of time, there manifested that sense of the individual being transcended, and becoming a collective experience; as if the soldiers had had mutual dreams, perhaps nightmares too, which they all felt simultaneously.

A quality of dream, trench, and mist is what marks the latest album from PJ Harvey, Let England Shake, which is a kind of critical exploration of Englishness, through historical look at wars and their vestiges; destruction near and far, in which the United Kingdom has played a part. Three songs on the record refer directly to the Gallipoli massacre, whilst another refers more generally to the devastation caused by the Great War – or rather the latter revision of the event. There is no clear critical message, and much of the richness of the album is in its ambiguity, and the freedom given to the listener to draw their own conclusions. The lyricism and words of Let England Shake are of a unique style of language, referring to the concept of war right up to modern times, with those in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Transmitted using melodies of a hypnotic strength and beauty, the songs are in some way like the voices of the dead, as told by a narrator capable of constructing striking, surprising images.

The record has been met with much public and critical acclaim, with many considering it PJ Harvey´s best work to date – high praise indeed for somebody who has created some of the most important albums of the last few decades.

 

Paul Oilzum

The memory of Gallipoli continues to resonate, not just in PJ Harvey´s record, but in the whole of the Bosforo. A visit to the area is not to be missed when you rent apartments in Istanbul

Translated by: Poppy