PJ Harvey to record new album in public

LONDON: British singer PJ Harvey is to record her ninth studio album in public, the two-time Mercury Prize-winner announced on Friday, turning the recording process into an art installation.

The 45-year-old musician will spend four weeks working on the album at Somerset House on the River Thames in London, with the public able to watch from behind one-way mirrored glass.

The project, entitled "Recording in Progress", will take place in what used to be the staff gymnasium of the Inland Revenue tax collection department.

"I want ´Recording in Progress´ to operate as if we´re an exhibition in a gallery. I hope visitors will be able to experience the flow and energy of the recording process," Harvey said.

Visitors will pay up to £15 ($23, 19 euros) for a 45-minute slot to watch the sessions as Harvey and her band work on tracks between January 16 and February 14.

It will be the multi-instrumentalist´s first album since "Let England Shake" (2011), which won her the Mercury Prize for the best British or Irish album for a record second time.