From January 20: https://likeahammerinthesink.wordpress.com/2015/01/20/recording-in-progress/.

"The talk inside the box is technical but then the assembled musicians run through a fairly short section of a song…or maybe it is a fairly short song…and it is possible to discern the beginnings of a ‘track’. It all looks like hard work and everyone is very well-behaved and patient. They do know they are being watched and this is bound to affect the ‘performance’. John Parish as producer sits on a white sofa (the whole interior is very white) and nods and suggests different approaches to the instrumentation. Snare drums, flute, saxophone, guitar and melodica are put to use with a good deal of experimentation with percussion on a marching-style rhythm. He asks PJ Harvey – ‘How’s your song doing in the middle of this?’ – she laughs in response. It seems quite tentative from everyone’s point of view…I have no idea if this is normal. At one point Parish says to Kendrick Rowe on drums something along the lines of ‘…you get into the groove at that point and there’s nothing wrong with that but maybe it should be a kind of standing up groove rather than a sitting back groove…’. The ‘audience’ are very attentive and quiet though we have been told that we don’t have to be."

"The Jaipur Literature Festival just got done for 2015, and there are already at least thirty-three confirmed speakers slated to appear next year, including musicians Patti Smith and PJ Harvey <...>".

http://scroll.in/article/703567

haha that's my photo from my Instagram

You Polly fans really do scour the internet! haha

Any chance you could share these goodies?

Imagine going today to find Jarvis Cocker is there too.

http://instagram.com/p/yo7Kvjk4O5/

Thanks to Joanna Salter on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/Jobug/status/562592179395526657

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Wiggins is so superbly unassuming, he looks like he's about to say 'Pop the gold medal in the post, I'm nipping out for some biscuits'

Mark Steel

Hi there! I can't wait to see this with my own eyes. Going to attend a session on Valentine's Day.

Question: they're selling a booklet and… prints (lyrics/pictures) or is this one set? What does it cost? Can you buy more than one? (before I offer such a service for one of my friends).

@jackrabb1t: "Best quote from PJ Harvey after a take: 'It sounded like stray dogs. I liked it. It was like stepping in poo'"; "Next take ... 'I'm not sure about that. It sounded like children's tv' #PJHarvey #recordinginprogress"

doginthesnow: "My 45 minutes with PJ Harvey and band was them recording their breathing to create some pretty lovely and dirty sounding polyrhythms. #somersethouse #recordinginprogress"

@LizCoomb: "Amazing 45 mins watching @PJHarveyUK lay down sax (bass, treble & alt) on "ministry of defence" at @SomersetHouse today #recordinginprogress"

@brucedaisley: "Saw @PJHarveyUK "Recording in Progress" at Somerset House. Expect a noisy album. There was also a bassoon."

@TharoorAssoc: "Just back after seeing @PJHarveyUK recording her album. Fascinating to be a fly on the wall." )))

"The performance was engaging, hearing her sing the same song in about four or five different ways while taking on the feedback from her producers Flood and John Parrish. There were also two guest singers on the day, but I was not sure who they were. A 15-year-old french boy, and another young man probably in his early 20s. It will be interesting to see how the variety of these vocals will be incorporated into the recording of a single song."

http://www.vogue.co.uk/blogs/vogue-today/2015/pj-harvey-recording-in-progress

"At this point, a little past 11am, Harvey, dressed all in black, was of course in the center of the studio and center of attention, sipping water and nibbling on the occasional sherbet lemon by the look of things. Alongside Harvey were her longstanding producers Flood and John Parish, musicians, engineers and a lot of instruments (Harvey herself can play far too many to list, including the auto-harp). It was clear now that the 'mutating, multi-dimensional sound sculpture' we'd signed up for would entail gazing directly at Harvey and her crew as they worked on material - feeling slightly like a stalker watching a victim through the curtains in the comfort of their own home.

Amongst seemingly hundreds of cables, line drawings of goats and horses on the wall and lots of cups of coffee, the team exchanged minimal comments, appearing to understand each other without need for explanation. It all seemed very relaxed and nonchalant until Harvey announced, after a drum pattern had been trialled, that she wanted "something beautiful"."

http://www.thefourohfive.com/news/article/pj-harvey-recording-in-progress-weird-but-good-142
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Here you can WIN tickets on Saturday: https://twitter.com/Artangel/status/562664660961210368.

"The song we saw being created was called The Ministry of Defence <...>"

"Although at times it was difficult to hear, Harvey’s powerful voice was as potent as ever."

"Members of Harvey's band include renowned Bad Seeds member Mick Harvey and musical director and multi-instrumentalist Terry Edwards. At one point, Mike Smith (Damon Albarn collaborator) managed to play two saxophones at once – an impressive feat."

http://www.huckmagazine.com/art-and-culture/music-2/pj-harvey/

Mike Smith recently posted this: https://twitter.com/mrmichaelsmith/status/562890758383226880/photo/1.

Just came back from somerset house.

The song was Ministry of Defence and I am glad I went there again. The song has nothing to do with anything from LES, which for me is kind of a relief.

The song starts with some exotic drumming and then Polly starts singing "The restlessness, took off my brain, with questions I could not hold back, an orange monkey on a chain". The vocals were not really powerful, preliminary stuff just to guide John Parish - who was getting the simple but awesome guitar riff right, but from what I heard: She starts to sing in a normal range. It goes up as she goes through the song until she reaches again the upper notes in the chorus, which is a very simple, "Ahhhh... ah".

The guitar sounded great, with a slight delay, really simple, almost being used like a drum. The song will also have saxophones and another weird guitar. I'm really looking forward to hear it

Mick Harvey and Jean Marc were there too. River Anacostia and All Near the Memorials to Vietnam and Lincoln looked like the only two that were finished.

Thanks, natinhos - your laconic detalization makes my imagination run wild. Sounds AWESOME!
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@williswills: "@PJHarveyUK fans, Somerset house has just released a few more tickets for tomorrow's sessions. Good luck!"

http://www.somersethouse.org.uk/book-tickets/0e247a14-cc60-4c52-b0c4-d592675639f0

denim_shoyts: "Today I watched #PJHarvey sang a song called "The Orange Monkey". I feel so lucky. It was so much fun seeing her do vocal takes then watching Mick Harvey and John Parish trying to hit the same high notes. She had such a laugh about it. #somersethouse #recordinginprogress" )))

I believe for ticketholders the booklet is free, and the lyrics reproductions are cost £50 (http://www.somersethouse.org.uk/shop/product/pj-harvey-8-exclusive-lyric-sheet-reproductions).
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About Tuesday: "We listened to them tuning up saxophones (three of them) and I noted a certain Pulp front man yawned at this point, then Polly saying ‘Shall I sing this one and just play guitar?’ Yes, yes, yes, pleeeeeease. And she did, three times in different keys while giving Mike Harvey ("a bad seed") a bit of a look about his drumming that had gone a bit awry."

"It was fun watching the producers faces go from slightly irritable to head nodding glee, hearing the difference between the same track played in major then minor keys... and the difference was startling."

http://melodeewrites.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/pj-harvey-recording-in-progress-3022015.html
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@juliereverb: "Just went to see PJ Harvey in a vitrine studio. Mick Harvey was doing jokey guitar solos all over the shop. Flood says 'we can't have that', PJ responds: 'Why not?' #pjharveybanter"

@Dan_Zep: 'Step away from the panpipes, Parish!'

@TheGoldingChild: "Saw Mick Harvey of the Bad Seeds be cheeky earlier by doing Claptonesque guitar solos all over PJ Harvey's new songs,which was sort of magic"

@kellyfiveash: "PJ Harvey sang Homo Sappy Blues during Recording in Progress at @SomersetHouse. She asked: "Is it too much of a novelty song?" I loved it."
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Wednesday afternoon session: "...recording some drums. These are not just any drums however, one of the drums is a snare drum, with a smaller drum skin held loosely into place to create an incredible ringing sound when struck whilst the other guy (presumably Jean-Marc Butty) plays marching band-esque drum roll, which has a sort of sacrilegious / ceremonial feel to it. Sonically, we are fed exactly what the band are hearing which is the barebones of a track with some impressive guide vocals. The track itself has an incredibly hypnotic feel to it whilst also containing some classic PJH style “oooo”s."

"Even when they reach the 'dilemma' of which organ sound they should use in order to give the song a “pulse” they seem calm and collected and simply flick through the organ sounds unfazed until deciding on what they consider to be the perfect tool for the job at hand."

"...this album seems to be about conflict and injustice, however, rather than being about a particular war or place, it has an international feel. Polly’s moved away from landscapes and tapped into the mindset of those at the hands of injustice all over the world."

http://freedomspark.co.uk/review-pj-harvey-recording-in-progress/