Adele might have sold the most albums last year, but it was the ever-brilliant veteran songwriter Polly Harvey that made 2011 hers. The third single taken from Let England Shake’, ‘Written on the Forehead’ is a haunting, ethereal dream of a song that ensures the record’s power will reverberate long into the New Year, and that the memories of one of Harvey’s greatest campaigns remain alive.
It’s typically stunning. Harvey’s vocal is gentle, floating and oddly affectless as she coos along to Niney the Observer’s reggae classic ‘Blood and Fire’, narrating a disaster. You don’t know whether to be assured or disturbed by Harvey’s calmness in the face of such apocalyptic destruction, and it is this uncertainty which makes ‘Written on the Forehead’ so compelling. The instrumentation is sublime, the use of sampling is ingenious, and when it all calmly drifts away with Harvey still singing ‘let it burn, let it burn, let it burn…’ you just want to press replay.
If you’ve not caught on already, then ‘Written on the Forehead’ is a perfect example of Harvey’s inimitable songwriting style.
Words by Trahearne Falvey
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