| Product: |
White Chalk - PJ Harvey |
| Date: |
05/01/08 (72 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: A real departure, beautiful, melancholy
Disadvantages: Not for rockers or pop fans
~~~Introduction~~~
White Chalk is the 8th album from PJ Harvey, released last year. Since her stunning and critically acclaimed debut, Dry, 14 years ago, she has continued to change, develop and challenge, morphing in her personal style as well as her musical style to keep things fresh, interesting and to keep us guessing.
I know all this, and yet I still approached her latest album with something nearing trepidation, for gone is the guitar, so much a part of her sound, gone is the rocky attitude, abandoned for an instrument she had never played before - the piano. Surely this was doomed to be a worthy experiment, a little embarrassing perhaps, but nothing more...
But once again Polly Jean surprised me, and surprised us all, going by the reviews I've read elsewhere. This album is a thing of ethereal, haunting beauty - a total departure, but one that confirms her once again as being a truly talented, as well as a daring, artist.
~~~The Artist~~~
Forgive me for repeating some of what I said in my review of her debut album, Dry. If you read that already, or you know all about PJ, then please feel free to skip to the next section.
PJ (Polly Jean) Harvey has been likened to Patti Smith. True, she shares with Patti the poetic lyrics, the strong, deep vocals, the longevity and I dare say that Polly has been influenced by the punk movement of which Patti was so much a part. I think she has a similar attitude to Tori Amos - she's upfront, not afraid to play with those images of sexuality, feminity and ambiguity.
Along the way, Polly has demonstrated her keen musicianship, playing many of the instruments on each of her albums, and mastering the piano for her latest album. She has collaborated with many other artists, including Josh from Queen's of the Stone Age under the Desert Sessions project, which is another stunning album. She has also demonstrated her versatility having done some acting and published her poetry.
~~~The Album~~~
You only have to look at the album cover to see how far removed PJ is from her debut, where she is pictured topless in water (in a dark, arty, indie way, rather than an up-front, sexual, Fergie-style, R&B way). The White Chalk cover has her sitting very stiffly, dressed in a Victorian style white high collared, long-sleeved dress, looking pale and very serious.
The album centres around the piano. The move from crunching guitar and heavy bass lines to the use of this and other acoustic instruments (which include amongst them: broken harp, cig fiddle, optigan, mellotron, mini-moog and wine glass??!!) has the effect of stripping the music away to the bare minimum, which gives the album an ethereal, haunting, desolate quality. This is emphasised by PJ's voice which has transformed from the deep Patti Smith style hurlings to a much higher, thinner voice, which she herself refers to as her 'church voice' as it's the one she used to use once a year when she visited church with her grandma to sing Christmas carols. As ridiculous as this may sound, the effect is strangely and surprisingly affecting.
If you add to this the lyrics which are as dark as PJ's ever were, the overall effect is ghostly torment and melancholy. The album opens with The Devil ('As soon as I'm left alone the Devil wanders into my soul') and ends with her wailing like someone turned mad from their emotional pain at the close of The Mountain. Even the eponymous White Chalk, which is a tribute to the chalky hills of her Dorset home, which is a truly beautiful song, has it's dark side as she sings that 'these chalk hills will rot my bones'.
I'm not sure if this album is a daring exposure of a raw personal pain or an artfully constructed otherworld, but I suspect it is the latter, PJ Harvey has always struck me as being absolutely in control of what she is doing. I don't want to give the impression, though, that this album is totally depressing. Whilst the last 2 tracks are quite morbid, the rest of the album is beautiful in a quiet, wistful way.
~~~Conclusion~~~
This album is daring and there is no doubt that it will not be to everybody's tastes, including, I would imagine, some PJ Harvey fans. Whilst there is no more bouncing around the kitchen with my air guitar with White Chalk, I have found it to be strangely beautiful and I love it for its difference. I can imagine it being a good companion and source of solace when you're feeling down and if I'm not lying in a dark, peaceful, candle-lit room as I listen, the album itself will transport me to that place.
Summary: Another surprise from PJ
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