White Chalk -

Release Date: 24 September/2 October 2007
ID: B0009972-JK02

Track List:
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

Liner Notes:
All songs written by Polly Jean Harvey
Produced and mixed by Flood, John Parish & PJ Harvey

The musicians on this record are:
PJ Harvey: vocals, piano, acoustic guitar, zither, bass guitar, keyboards, harmonica, broken harp, cig fiddle
John Parish: drums, vocals, bass guitar, banjo, acoustic guitar, percussion, wine glass
Eric Drew Feldman: piano, optigan, vocals, mellotron, keyboards, mini-moog
Jim White: drums, percussion

With

Nico Brown: concertina on "Before Departure" &
Andrew Dickson, Briget Pearse, Martin Brunsden, Nico Brown & Nick Bicat: additional vocals on "Before Departure"

Engineered by Flood
Assisted by Catherine Marks & Andrew Savours with additional engineering by PJ Harvey & Ali Chant

PJ Harvey managed by Paul McGuinness
with Sally-Anne McKeown
at Principle Management

Hothead Music Ltd./Universal Music Publishing Ltd.

Photography by Maria Mochnacz
Artwork by Rob Crane & Maria Mochnacz
Dress designed by Mochnacz/Harvey/Mochnacz
Made by Annie Mochnacz
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Song trivia:

The Devil-
This song was inspired by the Leo Tolstoy short story "The Devil." Overall, the song summarizes the ending of the story, about a man hoping to commit adultery with a former lover but is also unsettled by the indulgance of his dark desire. Here are some lines from the book:

"What had formerly cheered him and been important was now insignificant."

"...but insanely and unreasonably expecting her; expecting that by some miracle she would be aware that he was expecting her, and would come here at once and go somewhere where no one would see them, or would come at night when there would be no moon, and no one, not even she herself, would see—on such a night she would come and he would touch her body..."

Broken Harp-
"The broken harp is a broken harp that a friend lent me-- his child sat on it and he glued it back together again [laughs]. And I had written the song and I didn't know what to title it, and I said to him, 'I wrote a song on the harp' and he said, 'What's it called?' and I said, 'I don't know' and he said, 'Well, what's it about?' and I said, 'Oh, the usual broken heart material.' And he said, 'Broken Harp'!" (Pitchfork, 2007)

Silence-
Some of the lines of this song appear to be inspired by Leo Tolstoy's "The Devil" (which was a more direct inspiration for the song "The Devil"). Here are the related passages:

"Unconsciously he tried to free himself from business. It seemed to him that he had to do so in order to think and to plan. And he freed himself and remained alone."

"And all those spots were besmirched in his recollection by memories that gripped him."

Singles:
When Under Ether
The Piano