PJ HARVEY 'The Piano'

Here's the new DIY style video for 'The Piano', PJ Harvey's second single from the "White Chalk" album. The video is strange and doesn't feature Polly Jean at all, but it is kind of interesting...especially the shadows hovering at the edges of the frame.

PJ HARVEY Graces the Beacon Theatre

Polly Jean Harvey graced the legendary Beacon Theatre on the Upper West Side of Manhattan last night, turning in her typically flawless live performance. She was simply breathtaking, at times playing an upright piano, other times rocking the antique venue with a solo electric guitar, and other times banging away on a cymbal, howling, backed by a distorted electro-sample loop. It would be a disgrace not to mention the other instruments utilized by Polly's extraordinary talent - harmonica, mini-harp, acoustic guitar, and her painstakingly phenomenal voice.


It was quite perfect that she bookended her show with a live Nina Simone recording. After all, Nina did play the Beacon in her final touring days. It was ominous, haunting and unforgettable to hear Nina's voice in this venue, not unlike PJ's performance itself.


Here is PJ's setlist at Beacon Theatre:

To Bring You My Love
Send His Love To Me
When Under Ether
The Devil
White Chalk
Mansize
Angelene
My Beautiful Leah
Nina in Ecstasy
Electric Light
Shame
Snake
Big Exit
Down By the Water
Grow, Grow, Grow
The Mountain
Silence

encore:

Rid of Me
Water
The Piano
The Desperate Kingdom of Love


-All photos by Scot Bowman

More PJ HARVEY...

Bear with me here, as I cannot get enough of PJ HARVEY these days. Here are three examples of how amazing her new album "White Chalk" is...

PJ Harvey - When Under Ether (music video)


PJ Harvey - Grow Grow Grow (live on French TV)


PJ Harvey - The Mountain (live)

PJ HARVEY - "White Chalk" 89%

PJ HARVEY's eighth studio album "White Chalk" will be released on October 2nd and it is a record to cherish, not to mention own a physical copy of. At first listen, I found myself mumbling "What the fuck?!" and turned it off in the middle of the second song. It is so quiet, so delicate, I felt abandoned. Where were the guitars? Where were the aching howls? What about the dominatrix vixen who was always prepared to remind you that "You come and mess with me, I'm fifty inches long!"? There is none of that here. This is the kind of music that requires effort from the listener. And as a devoted PJ fan there was no way in hell I was gonna leave it alone. So I decided I needed to listen to the album in its entirety on my headphones, late at night, a little bit drunk. It was then that I discovered the beauty of "White Chalk". It is deep, dark, sorrowful, depressing, and complexly gorgeous.

Looking back on the more recent PJ Harvey albums, this is quite the departure. On the 2000 release "Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea", Harvey found her pop moment, creating the most solidly structured and thoroughly accessible collection of songs in her career. The 2004 follow-up "Uh-Huh Her" was more loose and uneven, but found its solidity in its erraticness. But "White Chalk", more closely resembling moments on the 1998 release "Is This Desire?", sounds as if it could have been recorded as one long, piano-driven diatribe with select key moments of variation and height. On the title track, a banjo takes the driver's seat to great effect. 'Broken Harp' uses subtle horns that sound like they could have been used on a BEIRUT track. And as always, there are the startling, almost horrific lyrics that have become a PJ trademark. Most notably this can be found on the opening verse of 'The Piano'..."Hit her with a hammer, teeth smashed in; red tongue's twitching, look inside her skeleton". These are not happy times for Harvey, but the listener only stands to gain as a result.

What is so gripping about PJ's work, is the truth to form and structure. Ms. Harvey is a phenomenally skilled writer. Even the simplest of her songs are so layered, full with imagery, honesty, and power. And here, it takes a few careful listens to see it. Though, I wouldn't suggest actually falling asleep to the album, as the final track 'The Mountain', a lush and driving ballad, finds PJ building into a piercing, desperate wail that could wake the dogs a mile away.

You can pre-order "White Chalk" now.

PJ HARVEY - 'When Under Ether'

In anticipation of PJ HARVEY's new album "White Chalk", here is a gorgeous live version of the new track 'When Under Ether' as performed last year at the Copenhagen Opera House. True fans may be thrown off at first, as this performance (and apparently the new album) are piano based, resulting in a very different sound than the Polly we all know and love.

So, here you have it. No guitars. No howling. Just Polly sitting eloquently at a piano. And it's beautiful.

PJ Harvey - When Under Ether (live in Copenhagen)


Here's the tracklist for the new album, "White Chalk', which will be released on September 24.

01 The Devil
02 Dear Darkness
03 Grow Grow Grow
04 When Under Ether
05 White Chalk
06 Broken Harp
07 Silence
08 To Talk To You
09 The Piano
10 Before Departure
11 The Mountain