PJ Harvey - White Chalk

Island

It's impossible to compare two PJ Harvey albums sonically because, as anyone even with a minor interest in her knows, she never records the same sound twice. Having said that, for some reason this album reminds me of Is This Desire? (one of my all-time favourite records) and while, sadly not in the same league, it is her best work in a long time.

From the stunning cover portrait, which works perfectly into the atmosphere of the record, to featuring some of her best songs White Chalk is half an amazing record. "Talk To You," is her absolute finest moment on record, with "Grow, Grow, Grow," "White Chalk" and "Mountain and Devil" also being superb, and "Dear Darkness" certainly has its charm, but the rest of the album lets them down, especially the woeful "When Under Ether" and "Broken Harp," which pre-2000 wouldn't even have been a b-side. "The Piano" also isn't great, and "Silence" and "Before Departure" are quite forgettable, but do fit into the setting of the album perfectly.

When the five or six tracks work, they really work tremendously well - like the spooky, gothic, rural layers of "Grow," so cinematic and lush. "The Mountain" has a beautiful, sad, windswept, lost feeling to it, giving any PJ fan a very good reason to celebrate.

Review by L. Grasslands

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White Chalk