Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Track Listings
| 1. The Devil - John Parish, PJ Harvey, Eric Drew Feldman, Mark Ellis, Catherine Marks, Andrew Savours |
| 2. Dear Darkness - Jim White, PJ Harvey, John Parish, Eric Drew Feldman, Mark Ellis, Catherine Marks, Andrew Savours |
| 3. Grow Grow Grow - John Parish, PJ Harvey, Eric Drew Feldman, Mark Ellis, Catherine Marks, Andrew Savours |
| 4. When Under Ether - PJ Harvey, John Parish, Mark Ellis, Catherine Marks, Andrew Savours |
| 5. White Chalk - PJ Harvey, John Parish, Eric Drew Feldman, Jim White, Ali Chant, Mark Ellis, Catherine Marks, Andrew Savours |
| 6. Broken Harp - PJ Harvey, Eric Drew Feldman, Mark Ellis, John Parish, Catherine Marks, Andrew Savours |
| 7. Silence - PJ Harvey, John Parish, Eric Drew Feldman, Mark Ellis, Catherine Marks, Andrew Savours |
| 8. To Talk To You - PJ Harvey, John Parish, Eric Drew Feldman, Mark Ellis, Catherine Marks, Andrew Savours |
| 9. The Piano - PJ Harvey, John Parish, Eric Drew Feldman, Jim White, Mark Ellis, Catherine Marks, Andrew Savours |
| 10. Before Departure - PJ Harvey, Eric Drew Feldman, Jim White, Nico Brown, Bridget Pearse, Andrew Dickson, Martin Brunsden, Nick Bicat, Mark Ellis, Catherine Marks, Andrew Savours |
| 11. The Mountain - PJ Harvey, John Parish, Eric Drew Feldman, Jim White, Mark Ellis, Catherine Marks, Andrew Savours |
| 12. Splash Page Live Link - PJ Harvey |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk
The Polly Jean Harvey you hear on White Chalk is not the wild harpy you heard gnashing and wailing on "Sheela-Na-Gig", or the urbane punk stateswoman of 2000’s Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea. No, this is another evolution in her singular career--one that sees electric guitar banished to the cobwebbed attic, tight cat-suit covered over by Victorian gown, and Polly’s yearning vocals sounding strangely removed, like they’re being broadcast from another, distant age. Piano is the primary instrument here, augmented by occasional, dusty sounding guitar or other, more esoteric stringed instruments--a sparse, limited musical canvas that places the emphasis on song and lyrics. And while initially, they seem foreboding and slow to open up, repeated spins reveal this to be a set of ghostly power and eerily timelessness. "Dear Darkness" is spacious and supremely measured, Harvey singing of words "tightening around the throat of the one I love", while the harp-accompanied "Grow Grow Grow" is impossibly highly-strung, its pain buttoned-up in constricting corsets and tight bows. Only on the closing "The Mountain" does she approach the cathartic anger of her previous work. But then, White Chalk is something else entirely--an icy English gothic that’s powerful in its choked restraint. --Louis Pattison
Review
As any long term fan of PJ Harvey will tell you, the one thing that you can always expect from Polly Jean is the unexpected, and yet, even taking that into account, few people would have predicted that for her eighth studio album, she'd base the whole thing on an instrument she'd never played before.
Having spent 15 years ripping us to shreds, sometimes aurally and sometimes emotionally, with her guitar, White Chalk reels around the piano, something she couldn't play when she made her last album three years ago.
Thankfully, it doesn't feel like the experiment it might appear to be. Produced by the same pair who took her through To Bring You My Love and Is This Desire?, John Parish and Flood, it sits as a sister piece to both in its expansive sparseness and its lyrical desolation.
Polly's newfound love of tinkling the ivories is not the only unexpected thing about the album. For the most part, she sings much higher than normal, making for a sound that veers between the beautifully nightmarish and the soporific, particularly on the fear-filled 'The Piano'.
The result is an album that surprises, thrills and shocks. It is as if this album's self-produced predecessor, Uh Huh Her, marked a definite turning point for Harvey and she has decided to strip away the music, strip away the stories and return to the artist who offered up such powerful blows as 'C'Mon Billy', 'Man-Size' and even 'Sheela-Na-Gig'.
That feeling of the loss of layers reaches its pinnacle with 'Broken Harp'. Swirling round the most minimal of musical backings, the song swings on disappointment and disillusionment. Indeed, even with all her brutality before, she has never delivered a more distressingly honest moment than the opening lines; 'Please don't reproach me/for how empty my life has become'.
While other artists relax into their fame and fortune, Harvey continues to test both herself and her audience. Years ago, John Peel described PJ Harvey's debut single as 'admirable if not always enjoyable'. The same could be said of today's Polly Jean and that, in itself, is worthy of praise. --Chris Long
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
With "White Chalk" PJ Harvey radically changes her style, turning to a quieter, more intimate atmosphere yet the power, the anguish and the intensity are still there with her talent. Songs like Grow Grow Grow and White Chalk itself are amongst her best ever.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
"A voice comes to one in the dark.
Imagine."
Samuel Beckett (Company 1980).
....and here we have the voice of Polly Harvey. Stripped Bare.
Like the old woman in the rocking chair in Beckett's 'Rockaby';
alone listening to the cracked sound of her own voice.
Memory. Longing. Loss. Hope. Futility.
This is indeed a dark place but a place without artifice. The intimacy
at times almost unbearable.
These 11 songs are an extraordinary addition to Ms Harvey's canon.
Compressed, fleeting evocations; almost suffocating at times in their intensity.
The mood of the album is sustained throughout without respite.
Simple piano/guitar accompaniment, supported by uncluttered additional
instrumentation and vocals. The production unintrusive.
'Dear Darkness', 'When Under the Ether', 'Silence', 'The Piano',
and the superlative 'The Mountain' just some of the highpoints
in a work of claustrophobic genius.
A highpoint in the career of this hugely talented woman.
A small masterpiece indeed.
"And how better in the end labour lost and silence.
And you as you always were.
Alone".
Samuel Beckett (Company 1980).
Imagine."
Samuel Beckett (Company 1980).
....and here we have the voice of Polly Harvey. Stripped Bare.
Like the old woman in the rocking chair in Beckett's 'Rockaby';
alone listening to the cracked sound of her own voice.
Memory. Longing. Loss. Hope. Futility.
This is indeed a dark place but a place without artifice. The intimacy
at times almost unbearable.
These 11 songs are an extraordinary addition to Ms Harvey's canon.
Compressed, fleeting evocations; almost suffocating at times in their intensity.
The mood of the album is sustained throughout without respite.
Simple piano/guitar accompaniment, supported by uncluttered additional
instrumentation and vocals. The production unintrusive.
'Dear Darkness', 'When Under the Ether', 'Silence', 'The Piano',
and the superlative 'The Mountain' just some of the highpoints
in a work of claustrophobic genius.
A highpoint in the career of this hugely talented woman.
A small masterpiece indeed.
"And how better in the end labour lost and silence.
And you as you always were.
Alone".
Samuel Beckett (Company 1980).
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
As other reviewers have said, this is a melancholy affair from start to finish (although that description cetainly doesn't do it justice). It might take a few listens for you to get truly drawn into it but my experience was that it's heart wrenchingly delicate and wonderfully raw at the same time.
If you want to get an idea of what it sounds like before you buy, I'd say a cross between Philip Glass, the melancholic side of Grandaddy, the Pretenders, Lou Barlow, Ava Adore era Smashing Pumpkins and PJ Harvey of course. Actually now I've written that, the comparison seem silly - the album is so much more than that - but I'll leave it there in case it's helpful to anyone.
If you want to get an idea of what it sounds like before you buy, I'd say a cross between Philip Glass, the melancholic side of Grandaddy, the Pretenders, Lou Barlow, Ava Adore era Smashing Pumpkins and PJ Harvey of course. Actually now I've written that, the comparison seem silly - the album is so much more than that - but I'll leave it there in case it's helpful to anyone.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 84 reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Different
I've heard a little P J Harvey before but this is the first of her album's I've heard in its entirety. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Steve
5.0 out of 5 stars
PJ Harvey
Just catching up with my cd collection a much needed addition xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx
Published 1 month ago by H-McC
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nice purchase
Many thanks for a safe and easy deal.
Will use this service again and again
Cheers for a nice job
Will use this service again and again
Cheers for a nice job
Published 2 months ago by Rattanakosin
4.0 out of 5 stars
"White Chalk" is PJ Harvey at her most haunting
PJ Harvey has been creating music for some time now and consistently releasing new material every few years. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Amillionmiles
2.0 out of 5 stars
Great Songs And Poor Performance
On another website there is footage of PJ performing 'Grow, Grow, Grow' on one of those late night arty French chat shows. Read more
Published on 15 Jan 2011 by L. C. Warne
2.0 out of 5 stars
Tiresome Gothic ambient moodpiece
It's not a fun, entertaining album. It's also oddly soft from start to finish and completely lacking in her trademark screeching. Read more
Published on 1 Jun 2010 by BS on parade
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not a dagger, but a rope
Upon listening to this album in 2007, when it first came out, I immediately realized that there was something special about it, and thought it would continue to speak to me year in... Read more
Published on 24 April 2010 by Vargiu Riccardo James
5.0 out of 5 stars
it grows
"I'm alone amongst my friends in that i really like PJ Harvey, and no-one else i know really does.. I thought Dry was great, Bring You My Love and Stories of the City were both... Read more
Published on 6 Mar 2010 by ADAM
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautifull!
I find it difficult to understand how anybody who knows enough about the artist to buy this album to conclude anything other than the fact it's a true masterpiece. Read more
Published on 2 May 2009 by ADIHEAD
4.0 out of 5 stars
Harrowing
Even for a PJ Harvey fan such as myself, this is a very difficult album to listen to. This album is a collection of often funereal songs, all of which just feature Polly and a... Read more
Published on 11 Mar 2009 by Peter Lee
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
