PJ Harvey has confirmed that she is deep into work on both a new album and a new book, revealing the twin projects in a reflective New Year’s message that also came with a playlist of music she says has sustained and inspired her over the past year. The post marks the first substantial update on new material since the tour behind the alt-rock icon’s 2023 album ‘I Inside the Old Year Dying’ wrapped in the spring of 2025.
In an Instagram update shared on New Year’s Eve, Harvey wrote that she has “been writing songs for my next album and poems for my next book,” describing the creative work as a process that continues to “surprise and challenge” her but one she remains “committed to and love[s]”. No title, release date or label details have yet been announced for either project, but the confirmation signals that a follow‑up to ‘I Inside the Old Year Dying’ is now formally in motion.
The post also looked back on the conclusion of her most recent live run, noting that “2025 saw the end of the ‘I Inside the Old Year Dying’ tour in Australia and Japan in March,” which she called “a wonderful experience” and a chance to bring the record to life “in a shared experience”. The album, released in 2023, was widely praised as an immersive, folklore‑infused return that drew on her Dorset‑set narrative poem Orlam.
Alongside the news of fresh writing, Harvey shared a curated playlist of tracks she credits with being “inspiring and strengthening” throughout 2025. Hosted on streaming services under her official account, the playlist runs just over an hour and gathers work from contemporary composers, experimental artists and idiosyncratic songwriters.
The selections include pieces such as “LAD: II. The Slow Melody” and “Wee Rosebud”, alongside modern classical and avant‑garde cuts by artists including Clarissa Connelly, Xenia Pestova Bennett and the Ligeti Quartet. The list underlines Harvey’s long‑standing openness to left‑field influences, echoing the spectral folk, choral textures and text‑driven structures that shaped I Inside the Old Year Dying and its companion book Orlam.
Harvey closed her message by thanking listeners for their support and wishing them “a happy and peaceful year ahead”, framing the new creative cycle as both a continuation and a renewal after two years of touring. With no firm timeline yet in place, fans are left to parse the hints offered by her evolving reading list, visual collaborators and, now, this playlist of guiding songs.
If the hard-hitting music she has been publicly championing is any indication, Harvey’s next chapter is likely to push further into atmospheric, narrative‑rich territory, drawing strength from the adventurous voices she has chosen to spotlight.
