PJ Harvey has revealed why she no longer plays a lot of her early material during shows, explaining that she can only sing the songs she can still “believe” in.
Speaking to GQ, the ‘Let England Shake’ star said that she hardly plays any material from her first albums, 1992’s ‘Dry’ and 1993’s ‘Rid Of Me’, live because of her concerns over authenticity.
She said: “I find that I can only play the songs that I can sing with any authenticity still, my being a 42-year-old woman. Some of the words of those songs were written when I was very young and they no longer feel honest for me to sing now at this stage of my life.”
She added: “When I sing for people I want to be able to feel that I can inhabit the song during that performance and in order to do so I need to believe in it. So I only sing the songs that I can still believe as I sing them.”
Harvey also spoke about how she feels little nostalgia for that era of her career. “I don’t get nostalgic, really,” she said. “I’m somebody that enjoys living in the present moment that I’m in. In fact, I very rarely reflect because it all feels part of me still. My past feels part of the ongoing journey towards where I’m going next.”
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