''A Woman a Man Walked By'' is the second collaborative

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by the English

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

musicians

PJ Harvey Polly Jean Harvey (born 9 October 1969) is an English singer-songwriter. 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 local band Automat ...

and

John Parish John Parish (born 11 April 1959) is an English musician, songwriter, composer and record producer. Parish is best known for his work with singer-songwriter PJ Harvey. He has also worked with such artists as Eels, Aldous Harding, Tracy Chapm ...

, released on 27 March 2009 by

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

Background

It is the second collaboration between Harvey and Parish, following 1996's ''

Dance Hall at Louse Point ''Dance Hall at Louse Point'' is the debut collaborative studio album by English alternative rock musicians PJ Harvey and John Parish, released on 23 September 1996 on Island Records. It was reissued on vinyl LP in October 2020. Background Pa ...

''. The album was recorded in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

and

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, and mixed by

Flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

. This album is made up of ten new songs. All the music is written by Parish, who also plays most of the instruments. The vocals and all lyrics are by Harvey. The first single from the album is "Black Hearted Love" which is described as having 'anthemic grunge-pop guitars.'

Critical reception

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 75, based on 27 reviews, which indicates "Generally favorable reviews". The album was described by journalist John Harris, as "...mischievous, deadly serious, elegant and poetic, and possessed of a brutal power – it is doubtful that you will hear a record as brimming with creative brio and musical invention this year..." In a track by track synopsis on their website, '' The Fly'' described the album as "a body of folk tales, funeral songs and trapped, tangled love songs... brilliant."

Track list

All songs written by PJ Harvey and John Parish. #"Black Hearted Love" – 4:40 #"Sixteen, Fifteen, Fourteen" – 3:35 #"Leaving California" – 3:56 #"The Chair" – 2:29 #"April" – 4:41 #"A Woman a Man Walked By/The Crow Knows Where All the Little Children Go" – 4:47 #"The Soldier" – 3:55 #"Pig Will Not" – 3:50 #"Passionless, Pointless" – 4:19 #"Cracks in the Canvas" – 1:54

Personnel

* Polly Jean Harvey – lyrics,

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

–

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

ukulele The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

;Additional musicians *

Eric Drew Feldman Eric Drew Feldman (born April 16, 1955) is an American musician. Feldman has worked with Captain Beefheart, Fear, Snakefinger, The Residents, Pere Ubu, Pixies, dEUS, Katell Keineg, Frank Black, The Polyphonic Spree, Tripping Daisy, Reid Pal ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

on "Black Hearted Love,"

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mus ...

on "April" *

Carla Azar Carla Azar (June 15, 1972) is an American drummer from Huntsville, Alabama and member of the band Autolux. She also plays guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, and sings. Azar played drums on Jack White's albums ''Blunderbuss'', ''Lazaretto'', and ' ...

–

on "Black Hearted Love" and "April" *Giovanni Ferrario – guitar on "Black Hearted Love," bass guitar on "April" *Jean-Marc Butty – drums (live shows in support of ''A Woman a Man Walked By'')

Chart positions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woman A Man Walked By, A 2009 collaborative albums PJ Harvey albums Albums produced by Flood (producer) Island Records albums Albums produced by John Parish