White Chalk

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White Chalk
Studio album by PJ Harvey
Released 24 September 2007 (UK)
2 October 2007 (U.S.)
Recorded November 2006 – March 2007
Genre Experimental rock, alternative rock, piano rock, folk
Length 33:57
Label Island
Producer PJ Harvey, John Parish, Flood
PJ Harvey chronology
The Peel Sessions 1991–2004
(2006)		 White Chalk
(2007)		 A Woman A Man Walked By
(2009)
Singles from White Chalk
  1. "When Under Ether"
    Released: September 17, 2007 (2007-09-17)
  2. "The Piano"
    Released: December 3, 2007 (2007-12-03)
  3. "The Devil"
    Released: March 18, 2008 (2008-03-18)

White Chalk is the eighth studio album by PJ Harvey, released on 24 September 2007 in the UK, and on 2 October 2007 in the US.[1]

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 Dirty Three.[2]

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

Contents

[edit] Style

The previous album Uh Huh Her had a raw sound[3] but for this record White Chalk, Rolling Stone 's magazine noted that Harvey "delved further into a Goth-like vibe in the much quieter, haunting, piano-based music".[3] For this album she gave up the traditional three-piece sound guitar/bass/drums 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."[4]

Vocally, she sang in a much higher register than usual, at a pitch outside her normal range and "howled about being possessed by demon lovers and ghosts".[5] Lyrically, Harvey continued with the dark, moody themes typical of much of her music.[4]

[edit] Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4/5 stars[6]
The A.V. Club (A-)[7]
musicOMH 4.5/5 stars[8]
The Observer 5/5 stars[9]
The Phoenix 4/4 stars[10]
Pitchfork Media (6.8/10)[11]
Rolling Stone 4/5 stars[5]
Slant 5/5 stars[12]
Sputnikmusic 4/5 stars[13]
Stylus (C+)[14]

The album has received mostly positive reviews and has a score of 80/100 on Metacritic.[15] The Observer gave the album 5 stars out of 5.[9]

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by P J Harvey.

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

[edit] Formats

The US release is available on CD and 33⅓ rpm LP. The UK release is available on CD and 45 rpm vinyl record. White Chalk is also available on iTunes complete with a bonus track, "Wait".

[edit] Personnel

with

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

[edit] 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

[edit] Chart performance

See also: PJ Harvey discography
Question book-new.svg
 This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2007)
Chart (2007) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart 17
Austrian Albums Top 75 26
Belgian Albums Top 50 12
Danish Albums Top 40 18
Dutch Albums Top 100 34
European Albums Top 100 12
Finnish Albums Top 40 32
France Albums Top 200 10
Irish Albums Top 75 15
Chart (2007) Peak
position
Italian Albums Top 100 19
New Zealand Albums Chart 21
Norway Albums Top 40 7
Portuguese Albums Top 30 13
Swedish Albums Top 60 18
Swiss Albums Top 100 21
UK Albums Chart [16] 11
U.S. Billboard 200 45

[edit] References

  1. ^ Cohen, Jonathan (2 July 2007). "PJ Harvey Goes Into The 'White' On New Album". Billboard magazine. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003606127. Retrieved 3 July 2007. 
  2. ^ PJ Harvey to return with new album NME.com 7 February 2007, Retrieved on 07-07-07
  3. ^ a b Kem, Marc. "PJ Harvey Rolling Stone'Biography". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/pj-harvey/biography. Retrieved 10-1-2012. "Harvey returned to a rawer, darker sound on Uh Huh Her (Number 29, 2004) and delved further into a Goth-like vibe in the much quieter, haunting, piano-based music of 2007's White Chalk." 
  4. ^ a b Stubbs, D. (September 2007). "Return of the Native". The Wire 283: 34. 
  5. ^ a b By Rob Sheffield (20 September 2007). "Rolling Stone review". Rollingstone.com. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/reviews/album/7910/38289. Retrieved 5 October 2011. 
  6. ^ Allmusic review
  7. ^ Phipps, Keith (2 October 2007). "The A.V. Club review". Avclub.com. http://www.avclub.com/articles/pj-harvey-white-chalk,7520/. Retrieved 5 October 2011. 
  8. ^ "musicOMH review". Musicomh.com. http://www.musicomh.com/albums/pj-harvey-3_0907.htm. Retrieved 5 October 2011. 
  9. ^ a b Paul Mardles. "The Observer review". Observer.guardian.co.uk. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/10bestcds/story/0,,2168472,00.html. Retrieved 5 October 2011. 
  10. ^ The Phoenix review
  11. ^ Pitchfork Media review
  12. ^ "Slant review". Slantmagazine.com. http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/music_review.asp?ID=1200. Retrieved 5 October 2011. 
  13. ^ "Sputnikmusic review". Sputnikmusic.com. http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/13549/PJ-Harvey-White-Chalk/. Retrieved 5 October 2011. 
  14. ^ "Stylus review". Stylusmagazine.com. http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/pj-harvey/white-chalk.htm. Retrieved 5 October 2011. 
  15. ^ "White Chalk Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic.com. http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/harveypj/whitechalk?q=pj%20harvey. Retrieved 5 October 2011. 
  16. ^ "PJ Harvey - White Chalk - Music Charts". http://acharts.us/album/28391. 

[edit] External links

PJ Harvey
Studio albums
With John Parish
Compilations
Singles
Related articles
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