"Dress" is the debut single by

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

singer-songwriter

PJ Harvey Polly Jean Harvey (born 9 October 1969) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments. Harvey began her career in 1988 when she joined loca ...

from her debut album '' Dry''. Released in 1991, two promotional music videos were also recorded.

Background and history

"Dress" was recorded at Yeovil's Icehouse as part of the ''Dry'' sessions. The song, like the album, generated an overwhelmingly strong critical response, though the song failed to chart. Lyrics tell the story of a woman who's trying to impress a certain man with a dress ("''Must be a way that I can dress to please him''"). She finds the dress pretty uncomfortable ("''It's hard to walk in the dress, it's not easy/I'm spilling over like a heavy loaded fruit tree''"), but she's hoping it will help her to ("''Close up my eyes/Dreamy dreamy music make it be alright''"). At the end of the song the man doesn't appreciate the dress ("''You purdy thang, my man says,/But I bought you beautiful dresses.''") and she falls on the floor, causes big embarrassment on her. ("''I'm falling flat and my arms are empty/Clear the way better get it out of this room''")

Track listing

All songs written by PJ Harvey, unless where noted. UK CD and 12" single (Too Pure, PURE CD/5)
/ref> #Dress (PJ Harvey, Rob Ellis) - 3:18 #Water - 4:35 #Dry - 3:36

Music video

The music video for "Dress" was directed by Harvey's friend

Maria Mochnacz Maria Mochnacz is a British photographer and music video director, best known for her collaborations with PJ Harvey. Life Mochnacz holds a degree in fine arts. She also attended a photography course in Weston-super-Mare. Notably, she does n ...

, who would direct numerous videos for Harvey and design album and single art for her later in her career. It was the first video Mochnacz ever shot and as she and Harvey were short on money they could only afford to buy and process 12 minutes of film. As a result of this some parts of the video are repeated and played backwards. The video was shot in black and white on a 16mm

Bolex Bolex International S. A. is a Swiss manufacturer of motion picture cameras based in Yverdon located in Canton of Vaud. The most notable products of which are in the 16 mm and Super 16 mm formats. Originally Bol, the company was founded by ...

Camera in a circus school in Bristol called 'Fooltime', and consists of Harvey lying on the floor as a giant ballerina

stencil Stencilling produces an image or pattern on a surface, by applying pigment to a surface through an intermediate object, with designed holes in the intermediate object, to create a pattern or image on a surface, by allowing the pigment to reach ...

is assembled in stop motion around her, as well as Harvey spinning in a dress and a body double swinging from a trapeze.

Critical reception

Upon its release, ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' picked "Dress" as their single of the week.

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

, as guest reviewer, commented, "I like the urgency of it, the way it keeps pushing along. I can't describe this guitar solo accurately but I think it's spot on. Gratifyingly genre-free."

Stuart Maconie Stuart Maconie (born 13 August 1961) is an English radio DJ and television presenter, writer, journalist, and critic working in the field of pop music and popular culture. He is currently a presenter on BBC Radio 6 Music where, alongside Mark ...

added that it was an "excellent, bristling recording" which "thumps along bravely with an engaging mixture of agitation and glee".

David Stubbs David Stubbs (born 13 September 1962 in London) is a British music journalist. He grew up in Leeds and in the early Eighties was a student at the University of Oxford where he was a close friend of Simon Reynolds. The two were part of the Oxfor ...

of ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' considered Harvey to be "the West Country's answer to

Kristin Hersh Kristin may refer to: * Kristin (name), a Scandinavian form of Christine * ''Kristin'' (TV series), a 2001 American sitcom * Kristin Peak, Antarctica * Kristin School Kristin School is a private co-educational composite school located in Alb ...

". He noted the "acoustic, oppressive viola" and "demented one-note electric guitar" in "Dress" and added that the "more desolate" "Water" is "obsessive, neurotic, nddriven by a sort of mental lust".

References

1991 debut singles PJ Harvey songs Songs written by PJ Harvey Songs written by Rob Ellis (producer) 1991 songs {{1990s-single-stub