Various Artists | Are You With the Band?

CD Reviews

PJ Harvey

White Chalk | Island

By TED DROZDOWSKI | September 24, 2007

4.0 Stars

The sing-song melody and Burt Bacharach lullaby piano chords that open PJ Harvey and crew’s new studio album lead into “The Devil,” who Harvey announces has entered her soul. As the next 10 songs in this cryptic gothic fairy tale unreel, she experiences a drug-induced nightmare (“Under the Ether”), a painful hollowing of the heart (“Broken Harp”), a moon tide of guilt, and, seemingly, death. With its Neil Gaiman–like imagery, this cycle is all a metaphor for a wrenching break-up. It’s also radically different from her previous studio effort, 2003’s art-punk ripper Uh Huh Her (Island). Harvey’s simple, tattered piano guides this journey, sometimes alone. Although she reteams with producer Flood, who co-directed her pop breakthrough, Is This Desire?, White Chalk is more chamber music, and a dark chamber at that. The only flickers of light come from Harvey’s voice: high, airy, and imperiled as she weaves her echo-coated and darkly soulful spell till the story’s bleak finale.

Topics: CD Reviews , Entertainment, Music, Burt Bacharach, More

| More

Most Popular

The Current Issue

Table of Contents

Cover Archive

Masthead | Authors | Contact us

Blogs

Lena Dunham’s risky book deal
Phlog | October 12, 2012 at 3:43 PM

Q&A #7: Brown Or Warren
Talking Politics | October 12, 2012 at 1:00 PM

Q&A #6: Devaney Challenge
October 12, 2012 at 12:53 PM

Free Fun Shit: Oct 12-18: Food Truck Throwdown, Maker Faire, GDGT tech showcase, Kerouac lit fest, new night @ ZuZu + more
Phlog | October 12, 2012 at 11:45 AM

Monica Castillo at NYFF, 2
Outside The Frame | October 12, 2012 at 11:14 AM

ARTICLES BY TED DROZDOWSKI

TOM HAMBRIDGE | BOOM! | August 23, 2011
Roots rock is the new country and ex-Bostonian Tom Hambridge is the style's current MPV.

COUNTRY STRONG | SOUNDTRACK | January 11, 2011
This steaming pile of songs is emblematic of the state of mainstream country music — all artifice, no heart, calculated anthems written to formula and meant, like the film itself, to do no more than capitalize on the genre's current success and rob its undiscriminating fans.

MARC RIBOT | SILENT MOVIES | November 02, 2010
This exceptional, eccentric guitarist has traced a slow evolution from screamer to dreamer.

IN MEMORIAM: SOLOMON BURKE, 1940 — 2010 | October 11, 2010

REVIEW: RONNIE EARL AND THE BROADCASTERS | SPREAD THE LOVE | September 07, 2010
Boston-based blues-guitar virtuoso Ronnie Earl seems to be considering his past on his 23rd album as a leader.