PJ Harvey - White Chalk

Beware The Judder-Girl

White Chalk is many things; a typical PJ Harvey album isn’t one of them. Not that there is a typical PJ album, but if you’re expecting the guitar and growl, you won’t find it here. A much more understated affair than Harvey’s last two outings, White Chalk defies the sometimes weak eclecticism of Uh Huh Her with a sonic and lyrical cohesion recalling the darker territories seemingly exorcised on 1998’s Is This Desire?. Casual listeners might be surprised by the higher-pitched eerie vocal that dominates, though fans will find reference points in 1997 cast-offs such as Nina In Ecstasy. While it’s often worrying when an artist uses an album to showcase new instrumental talents, Harvey’s piano is remarkably effective throughout, sometimes muffled, sometimes with the air of a mad Victorian nanny practising scales in an attic. It’s a ghostly, tension-riddled album in which we find Harvey talking of the piano as one might a murder victim (“Hit her with a hammer, teeth smashed in”), references to abortion, regret and, most personally, the death of her grandmother. At just 33 minutes, the unrelieved tension and haunting melancholy prove Harvey has lost none of her power to unnerve and evoke emotion. Best played alone by candlelight at 3am.

5 stars 5 stars 5 stars 5 stars 5 stars

Island | 1740326

Reviewed by James R Blandford
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