PJ Harvey - White Chalk

I know there's discussion of this peppering other PJ Harvey threads but it deserves its own.

Yeah, that's my fault, sorry - I tend to revive rather than start a new thread. Which is why that earlier discussion was on this thread:

can anyone tell me what pj harvey is up to?

But you're right, this should have its own thread.

Here's Pj Harvey's new single: http://blog.thesyn.com.s17153.gridserver.com/?p=1553
It's a lot more subtle and short than I expected, on repeated listening I'm finding her vocal tone effective for the context of the song.

-- Operator plug, Saturday, 4 August 2007 07:52 (1 month ago) Link

Just heard it for the first time last night and it literally gave me nightmares. This is one of her best songs. If White Chalk is all this good, it'll be the album of the year.

-- kornrulez6969, Friday, 24 August 2007 13:38 (2 weeks ago) Link

the album is pretty great.

-- ^@^, Friday, 24 August 2007 15:13 (2 weeks ago) Link

I've only heard "Ether," and while I liked it, there wasn't enough there to make me super-excited about the album.

-- jaymc, Friday, 24 August 2007 15:18 (2 weeks ago) Link

on the cover of The Wire this month...

-- henry s, Friday, 24 August 2007 15:23 (2 weeks ago) Link

okay, this is pretty amazing. and that final track... wow²

-- StanM, Thursday, 6 September 2007 07:09 (4 days ago) Link

This album is seriously great -- I need to hear it a couple more times to offer any substantial thoughts.

-- Operator plug, Friday, 7 September 2007 05:34 (3 days ago) Link

Ditto.

-- Scik Mouthy, Friday, 7 September 2007 06:58 (3 days ago) Link

Holy crap - that early 128 kbps leak some people apparently have been spreading around is VERY lo-fi (friends proudly put it on their stereo when I visited them - "look what I found!" "wtf is this crap? you can't hear the drums! or the background vocals! you're ruining a great album!" "oh :-( " ). If you're one of them, you'd better check out the real album when it arrives, it sounds infinitely better.

A bit wallpapery for me. I think she's aware of its slightness. Pretty good, though, especially "When Under Ether," "Grow Grow Grow" and "The Devil." Her worst still trumps the best of many.

"The Devil."

This was so much better live.

That final track = wow.
-- Matt DC, Monday, 10 September 2007 20:16 (2 weeks ago) Link

okay, this is pretty amazing. and that final track... wow²
-- StanM, Thursday, 6 September 2007 07:09 (4 days ago) Link

If there's anything PJ's done consistently well over her career, it's writing killer final tracks for her albums. I'm eager to hear the new album tonight/tomorrow, haven't downloaded it or watched the YouTube live footage with much concentration -- I'm waiting to bring it home and put it on a quality stereo. If any album in 2007 deserves that treatment, I'm guessing this is the one. High expectations!

Same here.

The proper rip sounds great. Really great album.

The proper rip sounds great.

depressing :/

Too one-note for me, but when it works it's a scary note.

This is one of the creepiest records I've ever heard.

It's quite an accomplishment, but not something you want to throw on all the time. But I don't think that was her intention with this one.

I’m enjoying it.

Alfred OTM here:

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0740,soto,77969,22.html

There's no way these songs would sound creepier with a full band, they'd lose the "one person alone in a huge dark 19th-century house with a piano and an axe-murderer who could come in at any moment" voibe.

Not creepier, just better/more enthralling. You know, like many of her other albums.

I know that's not what Alfred wrote, but it's what I mean.

this is some harrowing shit. talk about bleak imagery. did something happen to her? one of the songs sounds like it might be about her having an abortion, maybe. i've been wrong before. she's never been all that jolly, but the misery is usually tempered by anger or defiance - instead there's a tone of resignation that makes it even more plaintive. it reminds me, in mood at least, of some of the songs on Dry.

She's done songs about abortions before hasn't she?

yeah, i dunno, if "something" happening to her is required for her to make harrowing records ... well, something's been happening to her for like the last 15 years, right? think it might be dangerous to equate the roles she plays on record with autobiography.

Listened to this early this morning on headphones, in a train packed with miserable commuters, passing through foggy Scottish lowland landscapes. Couldn't have had a better match of mood and context. Fucking incredible.

it sounds to me more like a transitional record -and it could be a transition to nowhere in particular. Like she wanted to make a small, quiet record that quietly makes itself heard. The songs sound like they're all part of a cycle, almost weightless until you listen closer and even then the emphasis is more on the sleepy dreamlike quality than any horrors she might be evoking in the lyrics. If she really wanted that to be the focus she would've dropped her voice an octave and let us know.

The context you're listening in definitely affects things. Best not to be driving but staring out the window as a passenger. Or hook the lava lamp up.

anyone else enjoying this record more and more as the year comes to a close? it's slowly creeping up my top ten; i don't know if it can be stopped, frankly, by most of what's come out this year. this is way above and beyond.

I had not heard this until today, when I picked it up on vinyl. HOLY SHIT - would have been in my top 5 of 2007, for sure.

Does anybody else have the vinyl, and if you do, have you noticed an inordinate amount of background noise / distortion? I downloaded mp3s of the album to compare and found they sound much better (when have I been able to say that before?). =(

Is this the limited edition 180 gram 45 RPM one? I've heard people say that one sounds even better than the CD - better go back to the shop and ask them, I'd think.

No, it's 180 gram single LP 33 RPM, and I took it back and got another one, and it sounds just as bad. I think there must have been a defect in that batch, but I can't bring myself to go back to the records store again
...

Maybe it's your needle?

That's just what they said at the store! But I bought a bunch of new vinyl that day and it all sounds perfect - it's definitely a problem with this particular record.

maybe ask @ the official forum if anyone else has this problem?

http://bb01.sov.uk.vvhp.net/pjharvey/phpBB2/index.php

I did a search for "vinyl" there, but none of the 22 results are about White Chalk

I had not heard this until today, when I picked it up on vinyl. HOLY SHIT - would have been in my top 5 of 2007, for sure.

it's good to hear that from someone else! this was in my top 5 of 2007 (or would have been, had i bothered to make a list). just a stunning record, her best since Desire and maybe the best thing she's done, period.

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/8515/madwomanfk8.jpg

Can you recommend some other music like this?

world of skin
faun fables - mother twilight
kath bush - the cathy demos
exuma - fire
marianne nowottny - afraid of me
antony & the johnsons - "the lake"

I've never heard or read anything to confirm this, but the album strikes me as a response to or echo of the freakfolk scene. in a very general way, the approach of playing odd music with acoustic folk instrumentation is similar, and in a specific way the mood of the album evokes some of the gothier freakfolk acts like faun fables. if you haven't heard it, the golden apples of the sun compilation is a good overview.

probably check over here too
What are the scariest/creepiest FOLK albums

world of skin, faun fables, antony all OTM

also, this album is utterly fantastic. top 3 or so of last year for sure.

Album of the decade?

Probably wouldn't go that far, but fuck if this isn't one of her best albums EVAR.

Alright I'm going to try this record. I haven't heard it before. Didn't like Uh Huh Her, though.

the soap & Skin album is seemingly heavily influenced by this record, teenaged, austrian.

It's far from the album of the decade. But it's in the running for strangest album of the 2000s. And it's got creepiest locked up. Recently I went back and listened to Uh Huh Her, which is far better than it gets credit for.

Bimble are you fucking kidding me???

Tell me what you think!

This sounds really good so far. Gonna download the rest of it. Goes right along with my current Swans/Gira trip, too.

Damn you're right, that does sound like a match made in heaven hell... ;-)

DEAR DARKNESS

dear darkness
dear darkness
dear darkness
dear darkness
dear darkness
dear darkness
dear darkness
dear darkness
dear darkness
dear darkness
dear darkness

I've posted this in a million places on the internet and I don't care if anyone complains. Thanks. These are the life-changing gothic moments of our lives. She actually whoops Thom Yorke's ass here. Hard to believe, but true.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk_GmlJxJTg

this album was made for being ill on gloomy grey days

what a great album! finally heard it. haven't really listened to polly since stories from the city. my bad!

fantastic. one of my favorite rainy day albums. pretty much the only pj that I play now.

Back when she was doing stuff with Josh of QOTSA, I thought she was ready to rock again. Sigh.

Better late than never, I guess, Scott.

This album will probably make my decade-end top ten list, at whatever point we run that poll...

this record is fab, though it's not something I listen to that often -- a wee bit intense. Even for PJ.

excellent album but i don't listen to it often neither. coming to think of it i don't listen to any albums at the moment. all i listen to these days is my ipod which is either on shuffle or playing playlists with songs with the same length for my blog project.

jesus this album

best pj harvey album, i announced to one friend and a stranger on the subway last night

finally listening to it and i think i understand why i've been putting it off!

this is some harrowing shit.

― Roberto Spiralli, Wednesday, October 3, 2007 9:27 AM (4 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol me otm. listened to this and let england shake back to back a few times over this weekend and yeah, jolly stuff, but incredibly affecting. amazing couple of albums, maybe better 1-2 even than rid/bring.

what formerly
had cheered me
now
seems
insignificant
insignificant

Anyone heard the demos?

Also, the 'Ultimate Music Guide' has been revamped, it was going for a small fortune on Ebay of late..

https://www.uncut.co.uk/publications/special-issues/pj-harvey-deluxe-ultimate-music-guide-131104/

The demos are great - even more haunting than the original album, and they really showcase the strength of her songwriting - but I can see why she decided to spend five months in the studio polishing them up with John Parish, Eric Drew Feldman, Jim White, and Flood. The subtle additions and production choices in the studio versions really elevate the songs and turn what could easily be just a harrowing, uneasy record into something beautiful and transcendent. (I might be slightly biased because it's one of my favourite albums ever and I've had a glass of wine.)

I confess I bought this on release out of loyalty, didn't really like it on first listen and it disappeared into the shelves never to be heard again. I will dig it out. It must be one of a small number of my albums I don't have as mp3 for listening out and about.