"Dress"

PJ Harvey
(Too Pure/Island, 1992)

Ugly as the term "do-me feminism" is, it could have been invented for this burst of dread and desire from Harvey's epochal debut, Dry. Getting ready to go out dancing, wanting to "dress to please" a shadowy "him," a young woman amazed by her own sexuality breathlessly reminds herself what will happen "if you put it on." Meanwhile, the momentum of guitar/drum/cello crosstalk trips itself at every step. The music's as tight around the hips as the dress, a reminder that, early on, PJ Harvey meant not just Polly Jean but her unstoppable band.

-- Franklin Bruno