Last night, Polly Jean Harvey took home her second Mercury Prize. From being the first woman to win the prize, she’s now the first person to win twice. In 2001 she first won with Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea, however the singer-songwriter was absent from the awards ceremony as she was on tour in the US. More than that, it was September 11th and Harvey spent the day watching the Pentagon burn from her hotel window.

Ten years on and aptly her eighth studio album, Let England Shake, is a conceptual work about conflict and war. “I wanted to make something meaningful not just to me but to other people,” says Harvey. With songs inspired by the WWI battle at Gallipoli the 41-year-old has set herself apart from other musicians as an artist unafraid to address ideas politically and melodiously.

This time around Harvey was very much present at the awards ceremony, dressed in a flowing white dress and feather headdress she looked like a punk-rock angel. And with Patti Smith winning the Polar Music Prize in Sweden, now is clearly a good time to be a woman in rock.

pjharvey.net

Tags: Gallipoli, Let England Shake, Mercury Prize, Patti Smith, Pentagon, PJ Harvey, Polar Music Prize, Stories from the Sea