Words cannot express my excitement for the release of PJ Harvey’s upcoming album White Chalk. Along with Rufus Wainwright’s Release the Stars, they have both been my most anticipated albums this year. I’ve read so many rumors of the album being completely piano-based, a concept that i’m completely in love with, though I had yet to hear anything official on it. A stripped down collection of songs from Polly Jean has the potential to make this her most accessible piece of work, considering that has always been one of the minor drawbacks to her music. There have been hints of this from her 2000 release Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea – which in my opinion is her most accessible work to date – and it’s those moments that have fueled my desire to hear something like this.
Our first taste of this concept is here, and it seems to answer the lingering question of whether or not it will be piano-based from this new song off the album. It’s only one, albeit short, song, but I already love the new direction that “When Under Ether” strives for. As much as people recognize Polly Jean for her strong, hard-driven guitar playing and howling vocals, it’s great to hear these almost whisper-like vocals along with sparse instrumentation. It allows all of the focus to square solely on her voice, and at times throughout the song I sometimes forget who it is that’s actually singing.
I’m hoping this doesn’t dissappoint as it’s release date of September 25th starts to slowly creep closer and closer. I can’t wait to hear more songs from this one.
“When Under Ether” | PJ Harvey (thanks to lost in your inbox for the track!)
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yayyyyyyyyyyy
sept. 25th can’t come soon enough for me, either! i hope she tours with this. i’d love to see her live. : )
She never tours in the U.S.
well….not more than a couple of cities. I remember the last year Lollapalooza was still a country-wide festival and she was supposed to come to the Atlanta date. Well of course as everyone knows, those dates were cancelled and my dreams were dashed of seeing her live.
It’s funny that you mention stripped down accessibility and then namecheck Stories, which is by far her glossiest album. I completely understand what you mean (and agree), but the logical way to end that sentence is Uh Huh Her. Of course, that’s PJ Harvey.
I’ll be interested to see her tour behind this; she let the feel of each of the last two discs really influence her live selection and interpretation. I wonder if we’ll see a few older tunes migrate to piano? (Not sure if she’s a good enough player to carry off some of her guitar parts on keys)
Very nice blog!
i don’t know how i missed this uypdate, but yeah.
i cannot wait.
I really, really like this album, but I think a lot of fans will hate the lack of noisy guitars and the prevalence of a) pianos and b) whispers over guttural angst. It’s definitely a new direction, but she played some of this stuff at last year’s Electric Picnic so it wasn’t a total surprise.