PJ Harvey - White Chalk
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Music CD Cover
Artist: PJ HarveyBrand: Baker & Taylor
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2007-10-02
Music Label: Island
Product features:
- HARVEY PJ WHITE CHALK
- The Devil
- Dear Darkness
- Grow Grow Grow
- When Under Ether
- White Chalk
- Broken Harp
- Silence
- To Talk To You
- The Piano
- Before Departure
- The Mountain
Free Music Notes for White Chalk
Free Music Review: As Time Passes: Contemplation, Sorrow, Beauty ...
Hit: 5 Stars
I'll admit it, I was not sure of the new direction when I picked up P.J. Harvey's latest release, White Chalk. But you have to realize she is one of the handful of musical artists (Jarboe--former Swans' chanteuse; David Bowie, though he's stumbled often, when he gets it right it's near perfection; Inade--progenitor's of dark ambient, though they do not handcuff their music to the simple tropes of `dark ambient'; Mark Lanegan, like Bowie, imperfect but there are moments that squeeze the soul ...) whose work is worth repeated listens, even if it seems either out of character or simply hard, different, unexpected. Why? Because all of the artists listed above are honest to their own ideals (even if Bowie does slip), their own obsessions, their own creativity; they create because they have to, not simply to fit into what is popular or as a lust for fame (okay, so maybe Bowie, at times...; and yes, all of them need some semblance of popularity to be able to continue on this level, to create without restrictions ...). What drives them is inherent to their living and breathing. It is a search within one's self to better understand both their heart and soul--the person(s) they are (and yes, dark ambient, though primarily instrumental, can engage as an internal dialogue between artist and sound itself, more searching ...) and, peripherally, to better understand the world around them (what has come before; what lies ahead). So I let the Polly Jean take me for this ride--and she did. The music is primarily piano-driven, which only magnifies the contemplative quality--this is Polly Jean's most personal, introspective release, though she's often worn her emotions on her sleeve. The pace is of a piece, as if the songs are interconnected, explorations of the themes that have dominated her career--passion, desire, yearning for love (on all levels, including blunt sexual dynamics, though not so much here, even if it would seem her love is uninhibited ...) but now there's also the addition of the aforementioned contemplation, as if she is looking at what has already passed and takes it all in, a deep breath--acknowledging that she is still alive while others have passed, and other loves have passed as well--even so much as to take in her youth. But she is a woman now, 38 years young, not exactly the same girl who brought us Dry (though the foundation is, of course, lifelong), with life under her belt, and observant of all that she has witnessed, experienced and, again, desired. I know part of my enjoying what she does is because I can relate to the same obsessions that drive her, especially as expressed through the lyrics. Though the music is a chiaroscuro meshing of blood and tears, and the echoed approach to some of the vocals emphasizes the higher pitch she utilizes on this disc, as if she is cavorting with the wind and moon and, as always, searching for that special `something' she is in need of.... It's an almost hallucinogenic tapestry here, maybe psychedelic, but not a traditional psychedelia, more something emanating from the soul, spirit (flying) ... something from within, unleashed, but not a screaming insane released, something making its points, torn and tattered but brittle and about to break (but stronger than that, always stronger than that ...). Ah, but it is the lyrics that enlighten one to Polly Jean's mindset, heartset and, again, soul. They are Melancholy with a capitol M, deep into a place she has shown us before, but looking at it all with different eyes, yet still with her obsessions from the beginning. Not unlike Ian Curtis when I first read his lyrics: the brutal truth and honesty, the soul laid bare and trampled upon by the heart and mind.... The songs on White Chalk are haunting and haunted by a life in flux, by time as it eats the days and life itself, and the want and desire for what is next, something more, something or more so, somebody to hold on to and know that this is where she belongs, in the arms of this person, and this is right, and she wants (desire, always) but presently it seems that it's all just out of reach, so the contemplation is heavy, deep as the ocean, and there's even a few nods toward mortality, and it's proof that it's not easy growing older when the world around you is not warm and not always willing to embrace you, it's volatile and greedy and wants what it wants and nothing more. Even if you are P.J. Harvey. She seems so very alone here; even sad. I was not sure about this disc when I bought it (I have a love of her voice, the wild, cacophonous freedom with which she attacks her obsessions--the themes throughout her career--with no care than the impetus to get it right, get the song and the singing exactly how it needs to be, which in most cases seems to be of the initial inspiration, as in, the raw edge brandished and let it dangle, bloody and alive), but as I listen and understand, this is the logical path for her to take now--though I am sure that she will shake it up with whatever is next--but this moment, and that's what she's always been about anyway: her discs convey moods, as if reporting on where she is 'right now' as in, when that disc was being made. As if she is saying: This is my life. This is my heart. I've had enough sorrow, enough pain. Please handle with care.
Easily some of her finest songs ... yet.
JCS
White Chalk Poster
White Chalk is PJ HARVEY's eighth studio album and first new material since 2004's critically acclaimed Uh Huh Her. PJ Harvey went into the studio late last year to record and produce with Flood and John Parish. The three had worked together previously on the GRAMMY nominated To Bring You My Love and on Is This Desire?. White Chalk also includes musical contributions from Harvey's long time associate Eric Drew Feldman, and Jim White from The Dirty Three.
The album highlights PJ Harvey's incredible ability to consistently create a unique, yet always impactful experience with each new album. Her talents as a songwriter, musician, and producer have never been as powerful, or profound, as on White Chalk. The songs are wonderfully mesmerizing, leaving a hypnotic effect on the listener.
This carnival ride to the netherworld of the soul is PJ Harvey's most dizzyingly radical work since the raw pulse and grind of her 1993 debut. It's also entirely different. Harvey's created an emotionally fractured Gothic fairytale that rides on her spare, tattered piano playing and her voice, which she turns into a fragile siren's call: high, airy, and imperiled, and made otherworldly by a labyrinth of echo. Instead of pop tunes, Harvey offers an 11-song cycle that's the metaphorical story of a breakup in which the Devil, a drug-induced nightmare, and a seemingly bottomless pit of despair all play a part. At the end, in "The Mountain," her banshee wails conclude a journey so oblique it's worthy of David Lynch or Neil Gaiman. Flood, who co-produced Harvey's 1998 epic rock breakthrough Is This Desire? with her, reprises that role, but White Chalk is more chamber music--and a dark chamber at that. --Ted Drozdowski
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