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Rating:
Three years have passed since the uncertain and at times disappointing "Uh Huh Her," and Polly Jean Harvey tries again with this "White Chalk." If you rocked out to the dark-heavy guitars of "Dry," the fierceness of "Rid Of Me," or the pure rock of "4 Tracks Demo," then dreamed with the mastery and deep electronic sounds of "Is This Desire?" or the perfect "Stories From The City..." only to be let down by the four-year wait made vain by the disappointing but not too much "Uh Huh Her," well then forget all these albums, or blend them together, shake well, add a bit of "Flood" and a touch of "John Parish," finishing with lots of "PJ Harvey" and you will get this White Chalk.
You will get White Chalk, to be spread or brushed in your ears, little by little because this chalk is not for everyone, although gradually you will realize that listening in small doses will bear fruit, then you will not let it go anymore, it will be the soundtrack of your coming days. But for how long? It's early to say, I'm still listening and I think it will last for a long time. End of the story? No!
11 splendid songs, technically sung, whispered, and shouted to perfection, like you have never heard PJ do before, accompanied by an insistent and sad piano, capable of creating fine melodies hanging by a thread, surrounded by suspended and dreamy atmospheres, written in a sublime and mature manner, where it's hard to find blemishes, an intimate album, but one that externalizes all its mastery, that mastery somewhat hindered over the years, perhaps by too many guitars, absent or almost in the entire album! Perhaps the beginning of a new creative path where no track prevails, the only exceptions we can give are "The Devil", the title track "White Chalk", and the final apotheosis of "The Mountain" a song that at first listen hides all its depth, are just positive nuances where nothing exceeds.
Finally, a positive signal, the fears that little PJ had lost herself in the meanders of creative scantness have vanished, it truly deserves a listen, especially in this era of lean times. Fans cannot miss it, and to other listeners perhaps still naive in Harveyan knowledge, I strongly recommend it.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
04 When Under Ether (02:26)
The ceiling is moving
Moving in time
Like a conveyor-belt
Above my eyes
When under ether
The mind comes alive
But conscious of nothing
But the will to survive
I lay on the bed
Waist-down undressed
Look up at the ceiling
Feeling happiness
Human kindness
The woman beside me
Is holding my hand
I point at the ceiling
She smiles so kind
Something's inside me
Unborn and unblessed
Disappears in the ether
This world to the next
Disappears in the ether
One world to the next
Human Kindness
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Other reviews
By azzo
When I saw you on that Norwegian television site, at the piano, while singing "The Mountain", I immediately got chills.
I just ask you to pick up the electric guitar and tell the world to go to hell one more time.
By juanito
PJ sits at the piano, surrenders to the stream of consciousness, and with a new voice, she touches new strings, new instruments, new unexplored angles.
An album from the afterlife.
By m
"PJ Harvey has already suffered enough to give us this black diamond, to extract this sweet and poisonous absinthe."
"Listen to it. Few words, confused, crumpled up, choked by tears never shed."
By The_dull_flame
I have never managed to hold back tears in front of these splendid compositions, which often do not exceed 3 minutes.
She may have changed too much, but this Polly continues to move me.
By luludia
As if a crazed wolf cub were howling with a glass voice within a closed room.
A kind of remarkable interior grammar — precise, sculpted, surgical words.
