The film for The Words That Maketh Murder is one of a series of 12 shorts I made to accompany the songs on PJ Harvey's forthcoming album, Let England Shake. What interested me most was the enigma of England and the English. England has a complicated relationship with the past, its island status, its relationship to the land, geography and tradition. Contemporary England springs from a history of colonial adventures, military ambitions and industrial prowess. It is also defined by its waning power and military role in modern politics. At times, it can be a very odd place.

To open myself up to a country I live in but rarely get to shoot, I went on a road journey during one of the worst winters in living memory. I approached England as I would a foreign country, travelling alone with little equipment. I documented my experience in reportage style, using available light and real-life situations – this time with sound and pictures. I normally have the still and silent image as my universe.

I photographed, directed and produced the films myself, and worked with editor Sebastian Gollek in Berlin to complete the project. Budget prevented me from hiring assistants, but filming a road trip on your own makes the footage more personal, as I have found on similar journeys through America and Russia. You feel loneliness and savour friendships all the more, and it brings you closer to the subject. The ballroom scene from Blackpool is one of my favourites. It has what I hope for in any project – to find the extraordinary in the ordinary and to be ambiguous enough to allow personal interpretation. I am not trying to deliver messages, though something must sneak through as I film a particular place, scene or person.

I am showing what I saw, how I saw it and perhaps how I would like it to be.

Let England Shake is released on 14 February. You can download The Words That Maketh Murder from today