White Chalk is the seventh studio album by PJ Harvey. It was released on 24 September 2007 in the UK, and on 2 October 2007 in the US.

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. NME.com 07-02-2007, Retrieved on 07-07-07

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.

Style

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.

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 mostly 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.http

Formats

The US release is available on CD and 33 1/3 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".

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

References