The Hope Six Demolition Project

PJ Harvey’s ninth album of stormy, spectral blues-rock feels like a kind of sequel to 2011’s Let England Shake. This time, she maps her apocalyptic vision onto America. Led by the eerie, anthemic “The Community of Hope,” The Hope Six Demolition Project strikes Harvey’s inimitable balance between ethereal and direct, ghostly and gut-punching. The military choruses (“The Ministry of Defence”), blues stomps (“The Ministry of Social Affairs”), and haunted, New Orleans-style shuffles (“Medicinals”) here are all anchored by her plaintive howl.