White Chalk

Infobox Album
Name = White Chalk
Type = studio
Artist = PJ Harvey


Released = September 24,2007 U.K.
October 2, 2007 U.S.
Recorded = November 2006 – March 2007
Genre = Experimental
Length = 33:57
Label = Island
Producer = PJ Harvey, John Parish, Flood
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://wm08.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:difyxzuhldfe link]
*"The Observer" Rating|5|5 [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/10bestcds/story/0,,2168472,00.html link]
*Pitchfork Media (6.8/10) [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/45773-white-chalk link]
*"Rockfeedback" Rating|4|5 [http://www.rockfeedback.com/article.asp?nObjectID=5050 link]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|4|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/pjharvey/albums/album/16528254/review/16546621/white_chalk link]
*"Slant Magazine" Rating|5|5 [http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/music_review.asp?ID=1200 link]
*"Virgin Media" Rating|4|5 [http://www.virginmedia.com/music/reviews/albumreviews/pjharvey-whitechalk.php link]
Last album = "The Peel Sessions 1991–2004"
(2006)
This album = "White Chalk"
(2007)
Next album =

"White Chalk" is the eighth studio album by PJ Harvey. It was released on September 24, 2007, in the UK, and on October 2, 2007, in the US. [cite news | first = Jonathan | last = Cohen | title = PJ Harvey Goes Into The 'White' On New Album | url = http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003606127 | work = | publisher = Billboard magazine | date = 2007-07-02 | accessdate = 2007-07-03 | language = | quote = ]

Work on the album started in 2006, with producer Flood and John Parish, who also worked on her "To Bring You My Love" and "Is This Desire?" albums. Other collaborators on "White Chalk" are Eric Drew Feldman and Jim White from the Dirty Three. [ [http://www.nme.com/news/pj-harvey/29365 PJ Harvey to return with new album] "NME.com" 07-02-2007, Retrieved on 07-07-07]

The first single to be released from "White Chalk" was "When Under Ether" on September 17, 2007 on digital download and 7" vinyl. A second single, "The Piano," was released on November 26, 2007. A third, "The Devil," was released on 7", download, and CD formats in March 2008.

tyle

For this album Harvey has moved away from alternative rock and recorded a set of songs for piano, despite her lack of expertise on the instrument. In an interview in "The Wire" she explained "the great thing about learning a new instrument from scratch is that it...liberates your imagination."

As well as this, she sings in a much higher register than usual, at a pitch outside her normal range sounding ethereal and creating a unique new universe.

Lyrically, however, Harvey continues with the dark, moody themes typical of much of her music. [Stubbs, D. "Return of the Native" in "The Wire" 283 (September 2007), p.34]

Reception

The album has received extremely positive reviews. The Observer gave the album 5 stars out of 5.
Rolling Stone gave the single "When Under Ether" 4 out of 5 stars. The album has a score of 80/100 on Metacritic.

Track listing

All songs written by PJ Harvey.

#"The Devil" – 2:58
#"Dear Darkness" – 3:10
#"Grow Grow Grow" – 3:23
#"When Under Ether" – 2:25
#"White Chalk" – 3:13
#"Broken Harp" – 1:59
#"Silence" – 3:11
#"To Talk to You" – 4:01
#"The Piano" – 2:37
#"Before Departure" – 3:49
#"The Mountain" – 3:11

Formats

The US release is available on CD or 33 rpm LP. The UK release is available on CD or 45 rpm vinyl record.White Chalk is also available on iTunes complete with a bonus track "Wait"

Personnel

*PJ Harvey: vocals, piano, acoustic guitar, zither, bass guitar, keyboards, harmonica, broken harp, cig fiddle.
*John Parish: drums, vocals, bass guitar, banjo, acoustic guitar, percussion, wine glass.
*Eric Drew Feldman: piano, optigan, vocals, mellotron, keyboards, mini-moog.
* Jim White drums, percussion.

"with"

*Nico Brown: concertina on "Before Departure".
*Andrew Dickson, Bridget Pearse, Martin Brunsden, Nico Brown & Nick Bicât: additional vocals on "Before Departure".

Credits

*Produced & mixed by Flood, John Parish & PJ Harvey
*Engineered by Flood
**Assisted by Catherine Marks & Andrew Savors with additional engineering by PJ Harvey & Ali Chant
*PJ Harvey managed by Paul McGuinness with Sally-Anne McKeown at Principle Management
*All songs published by Hothead Music Ltd. / Universal Music Publishing Ltd.
*Photography by Maria Mochnacz
*Artwork by Rob Crane & Maria Mochnacz
*Dress designed by Maria Mochnacz, PJ Harvey & Annie Mochnacz
**Dress made by Annie Mochnacz

Chart performance

¤ - total sales confirmed by United World Chart = 41 000 cite web |url=http://www.mediatraffic.de/albums-week41-2007.htm |title=United World Chart - 41st week]

References

External links

* [http://www.pjharvey.net/player/index.html Album Sampler]
* [http://musicbrainz.org/release/68a8b3b5-b256-4917-8ba0-b74e79bedb44.html "White Chalk" at Musicbrainz]
* [http://thishereboogie.com/when-under-ether-pj-harvey-2007/ song of the day on thishereboogie.com 16th September 2008]