- Label
- Island
- Release date
- 24th September 2007
- Genre
- Rock/folk
For her next trick, Polly Jean shuns choruses and guitars in favour of bleak piano lullabies – and it’s great
A new Polly Jean Harvey album is always interesting. Over 15 years, this most uncompromising of artists has released six very different albums, each one a reaction to its predecessor. Most have been excellent although even devout Harvey fans will have been concerned by her last collection – the abrasively distorted and ultimately unsatisfying Uh Huh Her was perhaps too big a leap from the melodic tales of 2000’s Mercury-winning Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea.
Of course, White Chalk is different again – but hugely so. Harvey has retreated from the world and ditched the guitars in favour of haunting upright piano, soft upper register vocals and mournful tales of loss, family and heartbreak. These are not so much songs as solitary ruminations with PJ sounding painfully alone and actually rather ghostly. More immediate listens are the slow waltz of Dear Darkness ("Dear darkness, I've been your friend for many years") and skeletal lullaby of a recent single When Under Ether. Much less comfortable moments are Broken Harp and The Piano ("Hit her with a hammer, teeth smashed in") where at times, Harvey sounds like a younger, inconsolable Björk. Almost as alluring as this album is the thought of what she’ll come up with next.
More to try: PJ Harvey: Rid Of Me Cat Power: You Are Free The Kills: Keep On Your Mean Side
