Recording In Progress (2015-01-16 – 2015-02-14) (PJ Harvey recorded her album The Hope Six Demolition Project as an exhibition at Somerset House)

In early 2015, PJ Harvey recorded her album The Hope Six Demolition Project as an exhibition at Somerset House.

Visitors saw and heard this process as Harvey, her band, producers and engineers worked together in a glazed studio installed at the centre of the space. For forty-five minutes at a time, groups of people experienced the crafting of a record, which could have been the laying down a bass drum track, a discussion amongst the performers, improvisation, through to full performances of new songs.

One-way glass and sound proofing ensured that the musicians could concentrate on their work, but the space – previously the Inland Revenue’s staff gymnasium and rifle range – and the people who moved through it helped to create both the process and presentation of this project.

In 2019, A Dog Called Money directed by Seamus Murphy was released, the film documents some of the places both he and PJ Harvey travelled to and gained inspiration, as well as the process in the studio.