A Woman A Man Walked By is an album by PJ Harvey

PJ Harvey

Polly Jean Harvey is an English musician, singer-songwriter, composer and occasional artist. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments including piano, organ, bass, saxophone, and most recently, the autoharp.Harvey began her career in...

 and John Parish

John Parish

John Parish is a British musician and producer best known for his work with singer and songwriter PJ Harvey,. His sister is the actress Sarah Parish.-Partial discography:Solo*Rosie *How Animals Move...

, released on 30 March 2009 on Island Records

Island Records

Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...

.

Background

It is the second collaboration between Harvey and Parish, following 1996's Dance Hall at Louse Point

Dance Hall at Louse Point

Dance Hall at Louse Point is a 1996 album by John Parish and Polly Jean Harvey. Parish wrote and played the music, while Harvey sang vocals and wrote the lyrics...

. The album was recorded in Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

 and Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

, and mixed by Flood. This album is made up of ten new songs. All the music is written by Parish, who also plays most of the instruments. The vocals and all lyrics are by Harvey. The first single from the album is "Black Hearted Love" which is described as having 'anthemic grunge-pop guitars.'

Critical reception

The album has been largely lauded, and described by journalist John Harris

John Harris (critic)

John Rhys Harris is a British journalist, writer, and critic.-Early life:Harris was raised in Wilmslow in north Cheshire by a university lecturer and a teacher, daughter of a nuclear research chemist...

, as "...mischievous, deadly serious, elegant and poetic, and possessed of a brutal power – it is doubtful that you will hear a record as brimming with creative brio and musical invention this year..." In a track by track synopsis on their website, The Fly

The Fly (magazine)

The Fly is a free music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. The magazine is published by the HMV owned MAMA Group.The magazine started as a listings leaflet in Camden, north London, for the Barfly music venue on Chalk Farm Road...

described the album as "a body of folk tales, funeral songs and trapped, tangled love songs... brilliant."

Track list

1. "Black Hearted Love" – 4:40
2. "Sixteen, Fifteen, Fourteen" – 3:35
3. "Leaving California" – 3:56
4. "The Chair" – 2:29
5. "April" – 4:41
6. "A Woman a Man Walked By/The Crow Knows Where All the Little Children Go" – 4:47
7. "The Soldier" – 3:55
8. "Pig Will Not" – 3:50
9. "Passionless, Pointless" – 4:19
10. "Cracks in the Canvas" – 1:54

Personnel

• Polly Jean Harvey – lyrics, vocals
• John Parish
  John Parish
  John Parish is a British musician and producer best known for his work with singer and songwriter PJ Harvey,. His sister is the actress Sarah Parish.-Partial discography:Solo*Rosie *How Animals Move...
  
   – guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  s, drums (on record)

Additional musicians

• Eric Drew Feldman
  Eric Drew Feldman
  Eric Drew Feldman is an American keyboard and bass guitar player. Feldman has worked with Captain Beefheart, Fear, Snakefinger, The Residents, Pere Ubu, Pixies, dEUS, Katell Keineg, Frank Black, The Polyphonic Spree, Tripping Daisy, Reid Paley, Charlotte Hatherley, Custard, and PJ Harvey.He was...
  
   – bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
   on "Black Hearted Love," keyboard
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
   on "April"
• Carla Azar
  Carla Azar
  Carla Azar is a musician and a member of the band Autolux. Azar is a multi-instrumentalist but is known primarily for playing the drums. She also plays glockenspiel, xylophone, mellotron, piano, and bass guitar.-Career:...
  
   – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  on "Black Hearted Love" and "April"
• Giovanni Ferrario – guitar on "Black Hearted Love," bass guitar on "April"
• Jean-Marc Butty – drums (live shows in support of A Woman a Man Walked By)

Chart performance

Album

Year	Chart	Position
2009	Australian ARIA Album Chart	25
2009	UK Album Chart	25
2009	The Billboard 200	80
2009	Belgium Albums Top 50 (Flanders)	11
2009	World Albums Top 40	40
2009	Italian FIMI Top 100	45