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REVIEWS
SEB @PHJ-FRANCE // QUOTED @THE GARDEN FORUMS
ORIGINAL (FRENCH) TEXT:Retour de l'enregistrement.
Bon, c'est sur que ça change de la tournée précédente.
PJ seule dans sa robe blanche au piano, avec un métronome pour marquer la mesure sur The Devil, avec un harmonica sur un autre morceau (the Piano je crois), ou assise pour jouer de la guitare classique ou une sorte de mini harpe quelle tient contre elle et une sorte de clavier au pied pour rajouter une ambiance. Elle était souriante, apparemment contente de l'accueil. plaisantant sur les problèmes techniques (elle a dut jouer trois fois "Silence, entre autres) " ça me fait de l'exercice".
ENGLISH TRANSLATION: Return of the recording.
Good, it is on that changes preceding round.
PJ alone in its white dress with the piano, with a metronome to mark measurement on The Devil, with a harmonica on another piece (the Piano I believe), or sitted to play of the traditional guitar or a kind of mini toothing-stone which holds against it and a kind of keyboard to the foot to add an environment. She was smiling, apparently satisfied with the reception joking on the technical problems (i had to play three times "Silence, between others)" that makes me exercise ".
QUOTED @THE GARDEN FORUMS
ORIGINAL (FRENCH) TEXT:Retour de l'enregistrement.
J'y étais !
Vêtue d'une belle et longue robe noire, elle a merveillement interprété Grow Grow Grow: j'en avais la chair de poule et les larmes aux yeux. J'ai été également à la fois surprise et touchée par son attitude: souriante, accessible, humaine tout simplement. Elle ressemblait plus à une enfant (toute étonnée de voir son visage sur différents écrans!) qu'à l'impressionnante star que j'avais vue sur scène. Bien qu'il n'y avait apparemment pas beaucoup d'amateurs de PJ dans le public, elle a quand même fait l'unanimité et a été longuement applaudie. Lorsqu'elle a quitté le plateau, j'y suis allée de mon petit compliment et elle m'a remercié par un sourire que je ne suis pas prête d'oublier =)
Mais ce qui me marque le plus c'est quand même cette performance, qui va certainement m'aider à succomber au charme de White Chalk (alors que les premiers extraits m'avaient laissé sceptique) mais pas du tout m'aider à patienter jusqu'à son retour en France.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION: Return of the recording.
I was there!
Wearing a beautiful long black dress, she marvelously interpreted Grow grow grow; it gave me goose pimples and tears in my eyes. At the same time I was just as much surprised and touched by her attitude: smiling, accessible, simply human. She was more alike to a child (completely astonished at seeing her image on various screens) than to the impressive star which I had seen on stage. Although apparently there weren’t many PJ lovers in the audience, she nonetheless made them all uninamous in applauding her at length. As she left the stage, I ventured my little compliment and she thanked me with a smile which I am not ready to forget =)
But that which impressed me the most is however this performance, which will certainly help me to give in to the charm of White Chalk (since the first extracts had left me sceptic) but will not help me at all to be patient until her return in France.
MELANIE FAZI @YGROUPS
Just came back from the recording of a TV session for a French programme
called "L'album de la semaine", on Canal+, which features live
versions of songs from one particular album. As I suppose you can
guess, the album was "White Chalk". So we got to see Polly playing
solo in a studio that's much smaller than most venues where I've
seen her, even though we were a little further from the stage than
I'm used to. The crowd was really small, so I feel incredibly lucky
to have been there, especially as there are no tour dates yet.
It was amazing. She played most songs on the piano, only switching
to the guitar for "The Piano" (funnily enough) and to another
instrument (maybe the zither mentioned in Wire?) for "Grow Grow
Grow". "The Mountain" and "Silence" (which she had to do three times
due to a technical problem -- not that anyone complained about that)
actually gave me goosebumps. She was wearing the same white dress
we've seen on recent pictures and live videos and seemed quite
relaxed, even joking about the technical problems (it must not be
that easy to relax when you have several huge cameras revolving
around you). It was strange to actually see the decorated piano I'd
glimpsed on various videos, with the electric lights and all. It all
looks really good on stage. Before the show, I heard some grumpy
people in the crowd complaining that it might be boring if she only
stuck to the piano and didn't do any old numbers -- it definitely
wasn't.
STEPHANIE HUE @YGROUPS
What can I add about this performance ? It was amazing indeed, just as
amazing as it was unexpected...
With every new album, we're used to Polly saying that the new record is
completely different from the previous ones, that she's going exactly in the
opposite direction... This time, it's more accurate than it's ever been.
It's weird, because for the moment I was puzzled about the few excerpts I
heard. I felt like these songs would take a long time to grow on me, the
vocals being unusually high for her...
But believe me, when you see her doing these songs live a few feet from you,
at no time you're making idle considerations on whether they're typical PJH
songs or not, or on how they will fit in her collection of songs.You're not
making considerations on anything at all actually. They're breathtaking.
They're glaringly obvious.
On a lighter note, I truly enjoyed the contrast between her costume, the
certain solemnity floating in the studio, and her attitude between songs,
joking before doing "Silence" for the third time, telling that we'll soon
know this song very well, and that it was giving her the opportunity to
practise, if I remember well.
I'm also thinking about some details, like the way she was sitting to play
the zither, apparently disturbed by the volume on her victorian dress : she
took the posture of a cello player... but with a shorter instrument, the
effect was quite strange.
It's the contrasts we're used to, and attached to, with her, after all.
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