PJ Harvey has revealed that she finds performing her songs “draining” because she puts so much emotion into them.

Her latest album, ‘Let England Shake’, was inspired by the First World War and she feels exhausted singing her tracks live because she has to think carefully about the lyrics.

She said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph: "It is draining performing these songs because, in order to inhabit them with any degree of honesty and emotion, I need to really think about the words. As the narrator, I have to have the vision of the scene in order to describe it to the crowd. It can take a lot out of me, but it gives a lot back, too."

The singer did two years of research before releasing the album, and said she wanted to focus it around real human "emotions" so that her tracks really mean something to her listeners.

Watch the video for 'The Words That Maketh Murder', which features on 'Let England Shake', here: