"Inside stands Polly Jean Harvey, dressed entirely in black, dark hair framing her face, deep in conversation with Alain Johannes (cradling a battered cigar box guitar) and producer Flood (cradling a cup of takeaway coffee). Also present in the soundproofed recording studio/art installation is co-producer and Harvey's regular collaborator John Parish, percussionist Jean-Marc Butty, former Nick Cave cohort Mick Harvey, as well as a phalanx of recording equipment, computers, cables, guitars, brass instruments, drums, vintage keyboards and a pristine white sofa."
"...the piece of music that the group is working on is coincidently a haunting, dark-hearted lullaby that appears to be titled "
The Orange Monkey" and contains the see-saw vocal hook: "Restlessness holds my brain/ Questions I could not hold back/ An orange monkey on a chain." Progress is, however, painfully slow as the band tries out several subtly different percussion tracks to seemingly no one's satisfaction.
"Let's try the guitar to get the feel," says Flood, indicating a change in approach. For the next 20 minutes, Parish picks out a bluesy, reverb-drenched melody on his guitar that incrementally builds, mutates and evolves into something resembling a solid backing track.
"That's really great. That's brilliant," responds a suddenly animated Harvey at one point, although Flood is less impressed. "It's not quite right, is it? Try something more subtle," he says to no one in particular. The guitarist duly strips the rhythm track down to its bare bones, and having played it from beginning to end half a dozen more times, suggests a full run-through. Unfortunately for the audience peering through the glass, this is not a live performance in the traditional sense, but simply Parish playing over a previously recorded vocal.
The audio feed cuts out, signaling the end of our audience session, with Harvey sat in silent contemplation, her head tilted back and her eyes closed."
http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6465849/pj-harvey-london-recording-session-reviewAlso, Billboard insist on one of the song titles being "
A Drug Called Money" (but quite a few previous sources says "
Dog").