Hear PJ Harvey’s Raw ‘Shame’ Demo From ‘Uh Huh Her’ Sessions

PJ Harvey is previewing the upcoming release of her Uh Huh Her – Demos with a raw version of the 2004 album’s “Shame.” On the recording, she plays low, muddy notes on her guitar with minimal percussion and accordion as she intones, “Shame is the shadow of love,” in the same way she did on the album. The Demos album will come on April 30th digitally and on vinyl and CD — along with an LP reissue of the original Uh Huh Her record.

Last year, Harvey began putting out comprehensive reissues of her albums and the demo recordings of the attendant songs on each release. Although the Uh Huh Her album had 14 tracks, the demos release features only nine, skipping some of the shorter songs like “No Child of Mine,” which she developed in full for Marianne Faithfull’s Before the Poison record.

Like the previous reissues, both of the vinyl versions of Uh Huh Her and the Demos releases were mastered by Jason Mitchell at Loud Mastering under the guidance of Harvey’s longtime collaborator Head. The Demos release features new artwork, including previously unseen photos by Maria Mochnacz, who collaborated with the original Uh Huh Her designer Rob Crane on the packaging.

Harvey explained the album in a 2004 Rolling Stone interview. “Of course it’s having a laugh,” she said. “It’s one of those unpronounceables. I like saying ‘Uh Huh Her’ because you get my Dorset accent coming out. But it came from the chorus of a song, actually — there’s a song called ‘Uh Huh Her’ that I play live but I chose never to record. The chorus is: ‘Don’t marry uh huh her/Don’t marry her her her.’”

Uh Huh Her – Demos Tracklist

1. “The Life and Death of Mr. Badmouth – Demo”
2. “Shame – Demo”
3. “Who the Fuck? – Demo”
4. “The Pocket Knife – Demo”
5. “The Letter – Demo”
6. “The Slow Drug – Demo”
7. “It’s You – Demo”
8. “The Desperate Kingdom of Love – Demo”
9. “The Darker Days of Me & Him – Demo”