Monday 24/09/07 PJ Harvey @ Colston Hall, Bristol

Hailed by many as a return to top form, 'White Chalk', sees Polly Jean experimenting with her "church voice" and new found respect for the piano, the result is a beautifully crafted record which manages to reaffirm, much like ‘Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea’ did, Polly’s immense musical capabilities. Gone are the heavily distorted guitars and driving bass which characterised so many of her earlier live performances, instead we are now treated to auto harp renditions of ‘Down By The Water’ (one of the many highlights of the evening), and stripped down versions of ‘Horses’ and ‘The Whores Hustle, And The Hustlers Whore’. Draped in black Victorian styled dress, with killer stilettos, Polly makes for an intriguing figure, part mourning widower, part sexy Victorian seamstress, every bit the enigma.

Classic Harvey tracks, ‘Man Size’, ‘Rid Of Me’, and of course, ‘Dress’ remain as a stark reminder of just how far Polly has ventured musically since her emergence in the early 90s. It is undoubtedly an impressive back catalogue, yet ‘White Chalk’ tracks such as ‘When Under Ether’ and ‘Grow Grow Grow’ manage to effortlessly slip alongside her better known tracks, even though at times during her performance of the exceptionally high ‘The Devil’, and ‘The Mountain’, her voice fails to reach the notes, she even admits defeat during a particularly tricky rendition of ‘Nina in Ecstasy‘ , “For ****s sake! I’m going to spending the next 5 days practising that one, only bread and water for me until its perfect!”.

All jokes aside though this is the intimate sound of an artist challenging themselves and resisting stagnation , it is a brave move and one which paid off handsomely for Polly who received a well deserved standing ovation from her fellow westcountrians; leaving Polly to grace the stage one more time with a moving rendition of 'Uh Huh Her’s ‘Desperate Kingdom Of Love’. Perfect.