Is This Desire?

Pitchfork 10.0/10 Polly Jean Harvey’s 1998 Southern gothic masterpiece, a bracing rock record of frustrated longing and austere beauty.

NME 3/5 It’s occasionally gruelling uncommerciality might not be what people wanted (or expected), but it remains the sound of PJ Harvey staking out her artistic territory and choosing a path.

Rolling Stone 4/5 For all of her fabulous masks, Is This Desire? hits home because it comes down to a very simple sentiment: Harvey wants to know what love is, and she wants you to show her.

The Independent 3/5 Now on her fifth album, PJ Harvey is another who adds in new twists to a very competent album but fails to quite prompt the awe that was inspired by earlier works.

All Music 3/5 It seems to challenge the listener to accept it on its own grounds, but once you dig deeper, it winds up offering diminishing rewards.