PJ Harvey, Uh Huh Her

What’s this fuss over Avril Lavigne and the second coming of Alanis Morrisette? PJ Harvey can eat them both for lunch, and have Fiona Apple for dessert. The cover of her seventh album, Uh Huh Her, shows the scrawny but unstoppable seductress in the passenger seat of a car whose pudgy driver obviously doesn’t know what he’s in for. Harvey has always taken just what she wants from punk, blues, or more avant-garde atmospherics, subjugating them to her own abrasive vision; this album, unlike previous collaborations with numerous rock luminaries, is an exclusively solo effort. She may not be large, but she is most definitely in charge. Come to think of it, it’d be a waste to sic PJ on Avril and Alanis. Let’s get Dick Cheney in a hotel room and have her pay a midnight call. (Available May 31)