PJ Harvey

[blue]

PJ: 'Sweetheart, you know I love you, but The Beekeeper ... no.'

T: 'Can I borrow your leather pants?'

I just find it really amusing that at the same time Tori has taken to dressing up as PJ on stage and rocking out Fat Slut-stylee, PJ has taken to playing the piano and singing soprano. I've always thought of those two as sister-artists, but it's weird to see them physically taking on each other's personas, in a sense. It does make me wonder if they talk. Like when Tori was talking constantly about the concept of the 'body map' during the Scarlet era (the way the body is a physical map of your life experience/memories), then when Medulla came out, Bjork also mentioned the 'body map' in some interviews. I love the idea that they might privately discuss these things. I suppose it's not without the bounds of possibility.

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Haven't tried it yet but apparently this link has clips of all the tracks on Polly's new album:

http://www.one4music.de/White-Chalk-...ject_id=374187

[aermancer]

Schild thine Ohren!

gotta wait till it arrives in the mail!

[blue]

I've just listened to them through a few times, I'm glad I checked out the clips rather than just pre-ordering .... oh dear. I was hoping the studio versions would be a big improvement on the live ones, but that may not be the case if these are anything to go by. The piano is irritating the hell out of me, that let's-play-one-note-repeatedly style grates on my ears, and the high vocals still sound out of tune to me.

Some of it actually sounds quite Stina-like in approach, but nowhere near as interesting and beautiful as Stina's stuff is. She can pull off the one-note and plaintive vocal thing with aplomb, but it just sounds dreary and annoying coming from Polly. To me, anyway - I'm sure some will love it.

You have to type 'White Chalk' into the search box from the link, btw.

[blue]

Schild thine Ohren!

Shut it yerself.

[sound world]

The piano is irritating the hell out of me, that let's-play-one-note-repeatedly style grates on my ears, and the high vocals still sound out of tune to me.

Some of it actually sounds quite Stina-like in approach, but nowhere near as interesting and beautiful as Stina's stuff is. She can pull off the one-note and plaintive vocal thing with aplomb, but it just sounds dreary and annoying coming from Polly. To me, anyway - I'm sure some will love it.

I think this is the problem I've always had with PJ's music.I keep waiting for the penny to drop so that I get what everyone else likes,but not so far (er,about 15 years in).I just don't find the music has any real interest for me.

[blue]

Well I love most of her other stuff, apart from the first album really. But she sounds very strained vocally on these clips, and I guess ... well I'm used to Tori of course as far as piano goes, and Polly's playing seems amateurish by comparison. I think she says herself in a new interview that she can't play the piano. I know artists feel this need to try new ways of pushing their creativity but truthfully, the results aren't always that great. Sometimes people are good at a particular thing and not everything.

I was very impressed with her playing the autoharp in one of the live performances, on the other hand. Amazing.

[witchy]

Ouch, I adore DRY, it was love at first note...or I'd better say love at first-lines-of the review that made me buy it! It really meant so much to me, especially because she was a woman...
I'm getting a little nervous about this new album, could it really be a misstep? I've decided not have sneak-previews for now, I'll buy it anyway or I'll get it for xmas I guess or, who knows, even as little pick-up for after the delivery, he he! [angel]

[Matt Butterfly]

I love her latest song "When Under Ether", it's been playing in my head for the last couple of weeks.

[blue]

'When Under Ether' has potential to grow on me, I think - the lyrical premise is very intriguing.

[aermancer]

Ouch, I adore DRY, it was love at first note...or I'd better say love at first-lines-of the review that made me buy it! It really meant so much to me, especially because she was a woman...
I'm getting a little nervous about this new album, could it really be a misstep? I've decided not have sneak-previews for now

It's going to be fine i think, I listened to the Devil live a few months ago and downloaded the track a few days ago. it's beautiful, but i'm just dissapointed that the falsetto wailing from the live version isn't present in the studio version.

[d.a.walker]

The album is gorgeous, I absolutely love it, it has such a haunting quality to it. Sure it may not be pioneering piano playing a la Ms Amos, but it is creative and refreshingly different to what she has done before. I love how she likes to experiment and this album is full of new ideas.

I find there is more here in 34 minutes of PJ than in the 70+ minutes of Tori's Posse. Tori is getting too bland and samey for my liking and seems to be going in a different direction to my interests in music. I've not listened to her album now in nearly 3 months, it's too over blown and long with too much filler. Half an hour of utter fascination is more my thing, Stina's This is, Nick Drake's Pink Moon, all around the half an hour mark and both are stunners who more than make up for their ahem, lack of length, with depth. White Chalk is the same, on my top ten (hehe it's gonna get to 10 this year after all!! ). The title track is stunning...

[blue]

Oh I'm sure it's much more creative and interesting than ADP, I think Polly has completely different priorities for her music than Tori does - Polly always comes across as someone genuinely more interested in trying to make her art what she thinks it can be, whereas Tori seems obsessed with maintaining some imaginary position in the rock world hierarchy and the lifestyle to which she's become accustomed. I admire Polly enormously for getting her priorities right as an artist. She doesn't give a damn about fame or acclaim, she just wants to to the best she can in her art. I wish Tori would take a leaf out of that book, but I doubt she ever will now.

I guess it's just that because I'm so used to T's style of playing piano - that tumbling, rolling, overflowing its banks kind of playing - the Chopsticks style child-like playing on Polly's new tracks is just annoying the hell out of me. Or maybe it's not even that contrast, come to think of it, because I've always loved Stina's tracks that take that kind of approach with the piano - 'Clothe Yourself For The Wind' and 'Sailing' are two of my all-time favourite Stina tracks ever, for instance. So I don't know what it is, then, something about Polly's playing just really irritates me from what I've heard so far. And the voice is the other thing, the high voice. Not liking.

Maybe I just need to persevere with it.

[blue]

'White Chalk' EPK if anyone's interested:

http://www.vertigo.fm/inhalt/kuenstl...1635/downloads

You can stream it from there but I'm not sure if it downloads.

[witchy]

Well, I've got it. I asked my partner to reserve it for me and of course he got all worked out and he HAD to get it immediately, so here it is since 2 days ago.
I had to hide it away from the greedy hands of my little one, so I haven't even looked at it yet. I am curious but too tired to try to listen to it. I heard, distractedly, to a couple of tracks, this album is also in the listenpole of 3voor12, but I feel like I haven't heart a note. I don't know why, but in general since I saw the cover of this record I can't stop thinking about Emily Dickinson...I guess that's the kind of atmosphere I expect to find...