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A Dog Called Money peers through the window into the artistic process of one of our most distinctive musicians.
In a bid to get closer to the countries she wanted to write about, PJ Harvey accompanied photographer and filmmaker Seamus Murphy as he travelled through Afghanistan, Kosovo and the US.
Back home, the notebooks she kept on the journey became poems, songs and eventually her 9th studio album, The Hope Six Demolition Project, recorded as a sonic art installation at Somerset House and watched by the public through one-way glass.
Murphy’s film is an elliptical tribute to the process of music-making, bringing together a collage of material from each step of the journey. Tracing the passage from Harvey’s source inspiration through the transformation into music and lyrics is revelatory, as is watching the artist during the recording sessions; her easy rapport with her collaborating musicians, the hard graft and the unexpected moments of humour, as she coaxes out the unmistakable sounds of her latest album.
From creative inspiration through the alchemy of song-writing to the chemistry of the recording space, A Dog Called Money peers through the window into the artistic process of one of our most distinctive musicians.