British artist PJ Harvey has won the 2011 Uncut music award for her album Let England Shake. This is the second award Harvey has received for her war-themed album, having received the Mercury Prize in September.
The album was chosen by a seven-person judging panel at Uncut magazine, from a shortlist that included Paul Simon, Bon Iver, Radiohead and Fleet Foxes.
"I’m very pleased to get the Uncut Music Award 2011, and it strengthens my desire to carry on pursuing the avenues of work I have been for the last 20 years,” said Harvey. “It strengthens my conviction to always trust my instincts and to continue to do work of meaning and importance, in some way."
The singer talked about her follow-up to Let England Shake, saying: "I’m quite far into working on what will become my next body of work, and again my desire of wanting to learn continues to unfold. I began working on my next piece the moment I finished recording ‘Let England Shake’ over a year ago. I’m well into that next project already.”
Let England Shake is the 10th studio album from PJ Harvey and she has collaborated on a dozen more albums, including Marianne Faithfull and Thom Yorke of Radiohead, among others.