PJ Harvey White Chalk

The autumnal, eerie piano march that opens PJ Harvey’s White Chalk is anything but expected. When she last left us with Uh Huh Her the Harvey model was gritty, bluesy and tough. But she’s grown a knack for dodging expectations morphing from minimal guitar rock, to electonic experimentation, to slick ethereal pop ( Rid of Me, This is Desire, Stories from…).

How then, did she dissapear and re-emerge a figure of anachronistic Victorian desperation? Polly Jean might not be able to tell herself, but the results are nontheless hypnotic. Sparse piano, autoharp and percussion adorn somber tracks rich with haunting, Dickinsonian meditations on death and isolation.

Producer Flood (U2, Smashing Pumpkins) shows an unprecedented interest in keeping things simple to fascinating results. “When Under Ether” chugs along steadily like a Radiohead Kid A track in the 19th century. The title track is concerned with the landscape and not a body outline, “These chalk hills will rot my bones.” The closest she gets to optimism is “Grow Grow Grow”, which imagines boots stamping seeds into the ground, before the ghostly waltz erupts into cathedral-high falsetto. Just in time for the harvest.

****

Oblio Duo. Nuclear War EP

I joined in as an extra pair of ears as Oblio Duo and the Archers polished off the final mix for their EP last night at the Yellow Bordello’s own Room 9 studios. They outsourced their mastering to me and I plan on going through the 7 odd tracks in the Furnace Room this weekend.

The songs are outstanding, they have all the dynamics and diversity of The Flag, with a new found continuity thanks to the Archers giving the ensemble a consistency as opposed to the collective/ guest-musician approach. I am particularly fond of the opening track which starts off as a Crazy Horse jam and somehow tansforms into a Krautrock groove similar to Tago Mago era Can.

The biggest challenge to the mastering end of the project will be getting enough sonic consistency between tracks that were played live in a variety of ensemble styles. There is the regular guitar rock plus Fender Rhodes sound that they have grown to master, but several songs feature some of the Oblio’s new pet instruments such as accordion, clarinet and stand up bass. Two of the songs drummer Will Duncan sang were cut live with vocals behind the drumset. The whole thing has a kind of spontaneous-’just toss an Sm 58 on there’ kind of sound which is refreshing, but may challenge my limited experience as a mastering engineer.