AllAboutEve’s
closestcompanion
is thecobwebbed
gothicfolkof
WhiteChalk
new albums
is also something of the pensive
soundtrack recordings made
by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis –
dominated by sparse piano playing
and sickly, scraping drones. Harvey
sets out her stall early on All About
Eve: opener “Becoming” is built
around a four-chord piano motif
that shifts beautifully between keys
as a violin thrums above. Harvey
frequently returns to this piano motif
- inspired, she says, by Franz Liszt’s
“Liebesträume”, which appeared
in Joseph L Mankiewicz’s 1950 film
adaptation. She nests it in shifting
electronic beds on “Lieben”, the stately
violin drones of “Waltz” and amid the
analogue synth pulses of “Shimmer”;
Liszt’s piece also forms the basis for
“The Sandman” and “The Moth”,
the two vocal songs here. Sung by
Anderson in a theatrical delivery similar
to the higher register Harvey used on
White Chalk, the drifting, becalmed
manner of “The Sandman” wouldn’t
sound out of place in a David Lynch film.
Meanwhile, “The Moth”, sung by James,
is a more conventional song – there’s
drums, spidery guitar lines and a
middle-eight – where hints of piano
chords and strings shift in and out,
swelling and subsiding like waves
lapping the shoreline.
Elsewhere, Harvey is accompanied
by James Johnston and Kenrick Rowe –
notably on “Descending” which features
Rowe’s free-jazz drum freak-out against
a backdrop of oscillating electronic
effects worthy of the BBC Radiophonic
Workshop during its ’70s prime. It’s one
of the most effective pieces – not simply
because it offers a change of dynamic to
the ambient, minor-chord rumblings
that dominate the record, but because it
hints tantalisingly at a fresh direction
for Harvey.
As a creative exercise, it feels useful for
Harvey to have made this soundtrack.
The use of “Liebesträume” lends these
pieces a thematic cohesion; while the
sustained heavy drones and sinister
atmospheres reflect prolonged sonic
exploration. As Lily James forlornly
declares “I can’t wait for night to come,”
over skeletal piano lines, you might be
forgiven for thinking that All About Eve’s
closest companion is the cobwebbed
gothic folk of White Chalk – an album
of lonely beauty and
piercing sorrow
that has echoes in
All About Eve’s depiction
of the inner lives
and complexities
of its female
leads.jULY 2019 • UNCUT• 23
SLEEVENOTES
1 Becoming
2 Shimmer
3 The Sandman
(featuring Gillian
Anderson)
4 Waltz
5 Descending
6 Lieben
7 Ascending
8 Cadenza
9 The Moth
(featuring Lily
J a m e s)
10 Trä u me
11 Arpeggio
Waltz
12 Change In CProduced by:
PJ H a r vey
Personnel
includes: PJ
Harvey, James
Johnston (various
instruments),
Kenrick Rowe
(drums), Gillian
Anderson, Lily
James (vocals)DAVID ALLRED
The Cell E R A s E D TA P E s
7/10
Secondsolosetfromerstwhile
PeterBroderickcollaborator
The haunting,
folk-infused
harmonies of this
Sacramento multi-
instrumentalist’s
debut, The Transition,
were sometimes breathtaking,
but on this mini-album follow-up,
Allred’s creamy vocal tones hold their
own. They’re offset by atmospheric
midnight piano on the hymn-like
“Nature’s Course” and the title track,
and graceful cello on “Mandatory
Soul”. Still, it’s slightly puzzling
that he’s only released seven tracks
now rather than waiting to build
a full-length second LP. “Family”
sounds more like a demo without
the same evocative production and
accompaniment, and a couple of
other tracks resemble tantalising half-
songs. Either way, he certainly leaves
us wanting more. Johnny SharPANATOLIAN WEAPONs
FEAT. sEIRIOs sAVVAIDIs
To The Mother Of Gods
BEATs IN sPACE
8/10
hellenicheavyweightstussle
An unlikely
but uplifting
collaboration
between two of
Greece’s alternative
treasures, the
electronic producer Aggelos Baltas
and the folk singer and guitarist
Seirios Savvaidis. Both artists’ work
veers towards the psychedelic –
Baltas’ Anatolian Weapons deploy
druggy chuggers, Savvaidis often
spirals into lysergic incantation – and
here, with Baltas sympathetically
repurposing elements of Savvaidis’
songs, this inspired fusion results
in the kind of whacked-out sunrise
funk (“Tarachti Katarrachti”)
and meditative grooves (“Ston
Stavraito”) mainlined for decades by
cosmicwarlordsonMediterranean
dancefloors.Bypreservingthe
material’sfolkishintegrity,Baltas
presentsa compellingblendof
ancientandmodern.PierSMartinAtoZ
This month...
P25 ROsE CITY BAND
P26 CALExICO/IRON & WINE
P28 F LY I N G L O T U s
P29 RICHARD HAWLEY
P32 PETER PERRETT
P35 BUDDY & jULIE MILLER
P36 BLACk PEACHEs
P37 jEFF TWEEDYThe sandman
and The Moth:
Gillian Anderson
and Lily james C-PeRo