Following the tour for
Rid of Me, Polly Harvey parted ways with
Robert Ellis and Stephen Vaughn, leaving her free to expand her music from the bluesy punk that dominated
PJ Harvey's first two albums. It also left her free to experiment with her style of songwriting. Where
Dry and
Rid of Me seemed brutally honest,
To Bring You My Love feels theatrical, with each song representing a grand gesture. Relying heavily on religious metaphors and imagery borrowed from the blues, Harvey has written a set of songs that are lyrically reminiscent of
Nick Cave's and
Tom Waits' literary excursions into the gothic American heartland. Since she was a product of post-punk, she's nowhere near as literally bluesy as
Cave or
Waits, preferring to embellish her songs with shards of avant guitar, eerie keyboards, and a dense, detailed production. It's a far cry from the primitive guitars of her first two albums, but Harvey pulls it off with style, since her songwriting is tighter and more melodic than before; the menacing "Down by the Water" has genuine hooks, as does the psycho stomp of "Meet Ze Monsta," the wailing "Long Snake Moan," and the stately "C'Mon Billy." The clear production by Harvey,
Flood, and
John Parish makes these growths evident, which in turn makes
To Bring You My Love her most accessible album, even if the album lacks the indelible force of its predecessors. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine