PJ Harvey Unveils 'The Hope Six Demolition Project' This April

PJ Harvey has finally announced the finished album that she was seen recording last year in London. 'The Hope Six Demolition Project' is due to be released this Spring, and the announcement comes alongside the lead single 'The Wheel' which debuted today (January 22nd 2016).

The album was recorded in 2015 as part of a London art project called 'Recording in Progress' at Somerset House, where she and her team including producers Flood and John Parish recorded and produced it while visitors were able to watch the process through one-way glass.

It's her ninth studio album and follows 2011's Mercury Prize winning 'Let England Shake'. To gain inspiration for the project, she travelled to a variety of cities and countries worldwide including Kosovo, Afghanistan and Washington, D.C. over the course of four years.

'When I'm writing a song I visualise the entire scene', she said. 'I can see the colours, I can tell the time of day, I can sense the mood, I can see the light changing, the shadows moving, everything in that picture. Gathering information from secondary sources felt too far removed for what I was trying to write about. I wanted to smell the air, feel the soil and meet the people of the countries I was fascinated with.' During that time, she was also writing her poetry book 'The Hollow of the Hand'.

'The Wheel' is the lead single from the 11-track album and one for which she has delivered a taster within her album trailer which was directed by Seamus Murphy, who joined her on her global travels. The video also features a snipped of first track 'The Community of Hope'.

She'll be showcasing the new album with her brand new live band on a European tour this year, hitting up the likes of Primavera, Roskilde Festival, Open'er Festival, Field Day and Way Out West.

More: PJ Harvey joins the Primavera line-up

The Grammy nominated guitar legend who hails from Dorset, UK, is the only artist to have landed the Mercury Prize twice (first for 'Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea' and second for 'Let England Shake') and she has sold a massive 1.5 million albums in just the US alone.

'The Hope Six Demolition Project' will be released via Island Records on April 15th 2016.

Festival dates:
June 4 - Primavera Sound, Barcelona, Spain
June 4-5 - We Love Green Festival, Paris, France
June 12 - Field Day, London, United Kingdom
June 17-18 - Sideways Festival, Helsinki, Finland
June 20 - Zitadelle Spandau, Berlin, Germany
June 22 - INMusic, Zagreb, Croatia
June 24-26 - Down The Rabbit Hole, Beuningen, The Netherlands
June 29 - Open'er Festival, Gdynia, Poland
June 29-July 2 - Roskilde Festival, Denmark
July 2 - Rock Werchter, Werchter, Belgium
July 3 - Beauregard Festival, Herouville St Clair, France
July 7 - Pohoda Festival, Trencín, Slovakia
August 11 - OYA, Oslo, Norway
August 11-13 - Way Out West, Gothenburg, Sweden