At times we see artists who dare to deviate from their forte but fail to deliver. Most of the time, we see countless of artists producing the same stuff again and again and because some of them are so good at it, we fans keep buying into that. The queen of indie’s new production “White Chalk” moves away from the electric guitar sound and the signature guitar riffs into an album of piano ballads. In her words, “great thing about learning a new instrument from scratch is that it…liberates your imagination”. Not only that, she has also done away with the intense and at times screaming singing that sometimes coupled with the characteristic vocal effect. In “White Chalk”, She sings with a higher register. No wonder “White Chalk” sounds light and ethereal. The mood and sound of the piano and the singing gel well together. Many times when artists make such a switch, I have this haunting feeling of the good old sound when listening to the new album. To the extend that I could almost hear the missing guitar riffs that should have been there, the kind of screaming that should have been there. I have none for “Walk Chalk”. It sounds great on its own. This is not just my view. “White Chalk” has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from the reputed sources.
From the theme perspective, it is still dark and abstract. First, let me take you back to the year 1995. The song “To Bring You My Love” from the album with the same title is perhaps my favorite track out of all her songs. The lyrics is simple, but dark.
Climbed over mountains – Travelled the sea – Cast down off heaven – Cast down on my knees – I’ve laid with the devil – Cursed god above – Forsaken heaven – To bring you my love
Compare that to the excerpt of “The Devil”, the opening track of “White Chalk”.
As soon as I’m left alone – The devil wanders into my soul – – And I pretend to myself – And I pretend to myself – I go out – To the old milestone – Insanely expecting – You to come there – Knowing that I wait for you there – That I wait for you there
And the album closes off with with “The Mountain” that musically resembles the opening track “The Devil”. It is just genius.
By the mountain – I feel nothing – For in my own heart – Every tree is broken – The first tree will not blossom – The second will not grow – The third is almost fallen – Since you betrayed me so
Below is a video of three of her songs from the new album – “When Under Ether”, “The Piano”, and “The Mountain” – together with a short interview thereafter. Don’t miss it.
