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On White Chalk, brooding songstress Polly Jean Harvey treads the same dark, lyrical territory she’s known for, but this time around she’s doing it over a much more organic sound ushered in by producers (and PJ Harvey veterans) John Parish and Flood. Gone are the layers of sludge guitar found on her 1995 classic To Bring You My Love, replaced instead by soft piano chords and brushed drums. Even Harvey’s singing style ventures away from what she’s done in the past: songs like ‘The Devil’ and ‘White Chalk’ feature high, ghostly vocals that work well over their folk arrangements. While past records have only ever hinted at a move in this direction, White Chalk dares to run into it head first. Still, Harvey doesn’t sound completely settled in to her new style, making ‘To Talk To You’ and a couple of other tracks sound like unfinished sketches. Overall the change is good, but some of these songs might have benefited from PJ Harvey sticking to what she’s best at.
