White Chalk Explained

White Chalk
Type:studio
Artist:PJ Harvey
Cover:WC cover.jpg
Alt:A woman sitting in an upright position in a white Victorian era dress. To her left, white text reads "PJ Harvey White Chalk."
Recorded:November 2006 – March 2007
Genre:Chamber folk
Label:Island
Producer:
Prev Title:The Peel Sessions 1991–2004
Prev Year:2006
Next Title:A Woman a Man Walked By
Next Year:2009

White Chalk is the seventh studio album by English singer-songwriter and musician PJ Harvey, released on 24 September 2007 on Island Records.[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 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

The previous album, Uh Huh Her, had a raw sound but for this record White Chalk, Rolling Stones 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."

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". Lyrically, Harvey continued with the dark, moody themes typical of much of her music.[4]

Harvey elaborated the meaning behind the album's title: "I just like the sound of the words white chalk. It can be millions of years old but erased in a second, and somehow has a timeless quality... The timelessness became more the source of inspiration".[5]

Reception

White Chalk received critical acclaim and has a score of 80 out of 100 on Metacritic. Uncut hailed the album in glowing terms, calling it "an album of lonely beauty and piercing sorrow" before concluding, "White Chalk is P.J. Harvey back at the peak of her considerable powers."[6] The Observer gave the album 5 stars out of 5,[7] while Robert Christgau picked out one song from the album, "When Under Ether", as a "choice cut" .[8]

In December 2007, American webzine Somewhere Cold voted White Chalk CD of the Year on their 2007 Somewhere Cold Awards Hall of Fame.[9]

Accolades

PublicationAccoladeYearRank
NME2007 Albums of the Year200713[10]
Stylus MagazineTop 50 Albums of 2007200750[11]
PopMattersThe Best Albums of 2007200747[12]
The Wire50 Records of the Year200745[13]

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".

Personnel

All personnel credits adapted from the album's liner notes.[14]

Musicians

Additional musicians

Technical

Design

Chart positions

Chart (2007)Peak
position
Australian ARIA Albums Chart[15] 24
Austrian Top 40[16] 66
Belgian Albums Chart (Vl)[17] 12
Belgian Albums Chart (Wa)33
Danish Albums Chart[18] 18
Dutch Top 100[19] 34
Finnish Albums Chart[20] 32
French SNEP Albums Chart[21] 10
German Albums Chart[22] 54
Irish Albums Chart[23] 15
Italian FIMI Albums Chart[24] 66
New Zealand RIANZ Top 40[25] 35
Norwegian Albums Chart[26] 7
Portuguese Albums Chart[27] 20
Spanish Albums Chart[28] 55
Swedish Albums Chart[29] 24
Swiss Hitparade Albums Chart[30] 21
UK Albums Chart[31] 11
US Billboard 200[32] 65
US Billboard Alternative Albums14
US Billboard Tastemaker Albums3

Certifications and sales

External links

Notes and References

  1. Jonathan . Cohen . PJ Harvey Goes into The 'White' On New Album . Billboard magazine . 2 July 2007 . 3 July 2007 .
  2. https://www.nme.com/news/pj-harvey/29365 PJ Harvey to return with new album
  3. PJ Harvey Rolling Stone'Biography . Kem, Marc . Rolling Stone . https://web.archive.org/web/20110801004956/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/pj-harvey/biography . 2012-10-01 . 1 August 2011 . 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. Stubbs, D. . Return of the Native . The Wire . 283 . September 2007 . 34.
  5. Web site: PJ Harvey explains the story behind 'White Chalk'. NME. 21 September 2007. 17 August 2018.
  6. White Chalk - review . https://web.archive.org/web/20080719182446/http://www.uncut.co.uk/music/pj_harvey/reviews/10311 . dead . 2008-07-19 . . Barney . Hoskyns . October 2007 . 27 August 2017.
  7. News: PJ Harvey, White Chalk . . 15 September 2007 . 5 October 2011 . Mardles . Paul.
  8. Web site: Consumer Guide . . November 2007 . 6 September 2012 . Christgau . Robert . Robert Christgau.
  9. Web site: Lamoreaux. Jason T.. December 30, 2007. 2007 Somewhere Cold Awards. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180412082908/https://somewherecold.net/2007/12/30/somewherecold-awards-2007/. April 12, 2018. September 30, 2020. Somewhere Cold.
  10. Web site: NME's best albums and tracks of 2007. NME. 10 October 2016.
  11. Web site: Pop Playground - Top 50 Albums of 2007. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20191018051603/http://stylusmagazine.com/articles/pop_playground/top-50-albums-of-2007.html. 18 October 2019. 19 December 2011. Stylus.
  12. PopMatters Picks: The Best Music of 2007. PopMatters. 2007-12-21. 2011-01-18.
  13. 2007 Rewind: 50 Records of the Year . January 2008 . The Wire . 287 . 35 . London . subscription . Exact Editions.
  14. White Chalk. PJ Harvey. 2007. LP. Island Records. LC 00407.
  15. Web site: australian-charts.com – PJ Harvey – White Chalk. australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. 20 June 2012.
  16. Web site: PJ Harvey – White Chalk – austriancharts.at. austriancharts.at. Hung Medien. 20 June 2012.
  17. Web site: ultratop.be – PJ Harvey – White Chalk. Ultratop. Hung Medien. 20 June 2012.
  18. Web site: danishcharts.dk – PJ Harvey – White Chalk. danishcharts.dk. Hung Medien. 20 June 2012.
  19. Web site: dutchcharts.nl – PJ Harvey – White Chalk. dutchcharts.nl. Hung Medien. 20 June 2012.
  20. Web site: finnishcharts.com – PJ Harvey – White Chalk. finnishcharts.com. Hung Medien. 20 June 2012.
  21. Web site: lescharts.com – PJ Harvey – White Chalk. lescharts.com. Hung Medien. 20 June 2012.
  22. Web site: charts.de. https://web.archive.org/web/20150404062530/http://www.officialcharts.de/album.asp?artist=PJ+Harvey&title=White+Chalk&cat=a&country=de. dead. 4 April 2015. Media Control Charts. 20 June 2012.
  23. Web site: GFK Chart-Track. chart-track.co.uk. 20 June 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20180204182236/http://www.chart-track.co.uk/index.jsp?c=p%2Fmusicvideo%2Fmusic%2Farchive%2Findex_test.jsp&ct=240002&arch=t&lyr=2007&year=2007&week=39. 4 February 2018. dead.
  24. Web site: FIMI – Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana – Classifiche. Federation of the Italian Music Industry. Italian. 20 June 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20160305041552/http://www.fimi.it/classifiche_search_artisti.php. 5 March 2016. dead. N.B. User must select the weekly chart from the drop-down lists. For White Chalk, select 2007 > Ottobre > (Settimana 41).
  25. Web site: charts.nz – PJ Harvey – White Chalk. charts.nz. Hung Medien. 20 June 2012.
  26. Web site: norwegiancharts.com – PJ Harvey – White Chalk. norwegiancharts.com. Hung Medien. 20 June 2012.
  27. Web site: portuguesecharts.com – PJ Harvey – White Chalk. portuguesecharts.com. Hung Medien. 20 June 2012.
  28. Web site: spanishcharts.com – PJ Harvey – White Chalk. spanishcharts.com. Hung Medien. 20 June 2012.
  29. Web site: swedishcharts.com – PJ Harvey – White Chalk. swedishcharts.com. Hung Medien. 20 June 2012.
  30. Web site: PJ Harvey – White Chalk – hitparade.ch. Hitparade. Hung Medien. 20 June 2012.
  31. Web site: PJ HARVEY | Artist | Official Charts. UK Albums Chart. Official Charts Company. 20 June 2012.
  32. [{{BillboardURLbyName|artist=pj harvey|chart=all}} White Chalk – PJ Harvey | Billboard.com]. Billboard. 20 June 2012.
  33. Web site: Chart Log UK: H & Claire–Hysterix. zobbel.de. 2 July 2012.

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