The thing that I love about PJ Harvey is the specificity with which she makes records. With every new album, she challenges herself, and her audience, to abandon familiar comforts and adapt to new approaches. The piano-driven White Chalk is possibly the most challenging record she has presented since Is This Desire? or even her sophomore milestone Rid Of Me. To interpret it as a callous and self indulgent attempt to alienate listeners is to have never known what made Harvey tick in the first place. Austere and distant on first meeting, it quivers with new feelings upon every listen.