PJ Harvey Drops Raw ‘Down By the Water’ Demo

Gearing up to reissue of her entire catalogue, PJ Harvey shared a demo of “Down By the Water” from To Bring You My Love, which will be reissued on September 11th via Beggars Archive/Too Pure Records.

The demo sounds extremely similar to the album version, down to the ominous guitar and backing vocals, as Harvey sings, “That blue-eyed girl/She said “no more”/That blue-eyed girl/Became blue-eyed whore.” Toward the end of the track, she whispers the eerie lines: “Little fish, big fish, swimming in the water/Come back here, man, gimme my daughter.”

The reissue of To Bring You My Love, which turned 25 in February, was cut by Jason Mitchell at Loud Mastering and supervised by long-time PJ Harvey collaborator John Parish. “Down By the Water” is part of the companion release of demos included with the reissue, which includes all 10 tracks off the album.

Reissues of Harvey’s catalog — which consists of nine studio albums and her two LPs with Parish — will be released throughout the year, beginning with her 1992 debut Dry, out July 24th. Dry, 1993’s Rid of Me and To Bring You My Love are currently available for preorder, pressed on 18-gram vinyl and accompanied by signed art cards.