When Miss Polly Jean Harvey last visited Perth back in 2004, it was with her band (comprising of drummer Rob Ellis, Dingo on bass and Josh Klinghoffer on guitar), and in promotion of her record Uh Huh Her. The record was an aggressive and confronting one (even by PJ Harvey standards) and seemed by comparison to the material of tonight’s show, worlds away. Harvey’s latest record is White Chalk, a stripped down affair that sees her primarily at the piano singing intimately, almost vulnerably and with sparse instrumental accompaniment in lieu of distortion-laden guitars. In fitting with the White Chalk aesthetic, Harvey’s show at the Concert Hall was sans band and allowed the audience to see her music in a stripped back and skeletal form. Even the stage setting had an incredibly personal touch, as if we had stepped into Harvey’s music room. An old upright piano sat on the stage adorned with what appeared to be little figures of farm animals and an ageing metronome whilst the amplifiers were resplendent in glowing fairy lights.  

Opener Mick Harvey (not related) of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds fame, played a strong set consisting of many PJ Harvey unreleased tracks. Having produced several of Harvey’s albums and worked closely with her, Harvey admitted that PJ Harvey often sent him her demos. His lovingly performed renditions of her songs highlighted the closeness of the pair and were a fitting opener for Miss Harvey’s set. After a short interval, the audience took their seats and the air was filled with excitement.

The lights dimmed and the crowd roared as the petite Miss PJ Harvey walked onto the stage dressed in a black Victorian gown (not unlike the one she is wearing on White Chalk’s album cover) trimmed with black sparkles and with her hair immaculately coiffed. Shyly taking her guitar she launched into the raucous blues lick of “To Bring You My Love”, the veneer of introversion quickly removed and followed with another track from To Bring You My Love, “Send His Love To Me”. After playing these two crowd pleasers, Harvey made the move to the piano to play her new and consequently more unfamiliar material from White Chalk. Beginning with the opening swirl of the record’s first single, “When Under Ether”, it was clear that Harvey was comfortable with her new found position behind the piano. In the following track, White Chalk’s opener “The Devil”, Harvey employed the metronome as an accompaniment device, its constant click driving the motion of this urgent song. After playing the vocal delay-laden “White Chalk”, PJ made the move back to guitar with the old favourite, “Man Size” from Rid of Me. After a little spiel about her songwriting approach and her use of a “cheesy” drum machine on her demos, she confidently started up the aforementioned machine for a new take on Is This Desire?’s haunting “Angelene”. The subsequent songs saw her focused on the drum machine and the pseudo-electronica that makes up some of the material on Is This Desire?, even allowing Harvey to have a dance that recalled the childish awkwardness of her contemporary, Björk. In this segment the audience was also treated to the B-side “Nina in Ecstasy” which featured on the single of “The Wind” from the same album. After an attempt to return to the piano to play more material from White Chalk that ended in giggling when someone in the audience appeared to sneeze on cue, Harvey felt it best to move back to the guitar so she could compose herself. Launching into the brutal “Snake” was quite the change in mood from giggling schoolgirl to all the fury of a woman scorned and definitely took the audience out of their comfort zones. After treating the audience to a special rendition of her 1996 hit “Down By The Water” on the broken harp and then “Grow Grow Grow” from White Chalk, Harvey returned to the piano to resume “The Mountain” and the gorgeous “Silence” (both also from White Chalk) to conclude her set. 

At the impassioned urgency of her fans, PJ Harvey returned to the stage with the other Harvey (Mick) on piano for a wonderful encore that included the rarely performed and beautifully stark “The River” from Is This Desire?, the pleading “C’mon Billy” from To Bring You My Love and “The Piano” from White Chalk. After bidding adieu to Mick Harvey, (PJ) Harvey closed on the acoustic guitar with Uh Huh Her’s “Desperate Kingdom of Love”, a soothing and resolving comedown to a night of high emotion and lyrical intensity.

Listen to electronic piece “bend back”: bend back.

Examples of my nina.x work can be found here

Background

I am currently completing my third year of a Bachelor of Music majoring in Composition at WAAPA. I’ve been playing piano since the age of 8 and completed a music scholarship at Perth Modern Senior High School on euphonium from 1995 thru 1999. In 1999 I went with the school on a tour of Europe and competed in the Vienna Youth Festival. Prior to pursuing music at a tertiary institution, I performed in several original rock bands on vocals/keyboards and as songwriter. For the last year or so I have established myself as a solo performer (on piano and voice) going by the name nina.x in the Perth music scene and describe my music as “piano noir” due to the influence of torch songs and film noir on mymusic.

Works

As nina.x (2002-present)

· Performed as both soloist and with band at many local venues.

· Perfomed with a guitarist at the improv night ‘guerilla sessions’ in October 2004.

· Appeared in issue 8 (Sept/Nov 2004) of Groove Magazine, a West Australian music publication, and two of my songs (“Take What You Will” and “When The End Comes (I Wanna Hold It)”) featured on the accompanying CD.

· Asked to perform at The Smashing Pumpkins Tribute Night in March 2005.

· Interviewed by Grok Magazine (Issue #6 2005)

· X-press Magazine reviews (17.06.04 and 05.05.2005)

“As the opening act, soloist nina.x completely floored this reviewer. basic comparisons with Tori Amos and even Kate Bush are valid but nina utilises her distinctive voice and delivery technique to amazing effect as she belted out jilted piano pop from her keyboard. A vocal range this impressive and songs this heart wrenching don’t always translate well to a small audience in a small room but this just proves how talented Miss x must be.” b.ladhams, xpress 17.6.04

“nina.x began early, as she usually does and rendered much of the crowd speechless, as she also does. It’s funny how drummers who can hold smooth backing vocals or harmonies are given respect through the sheer physical nature of the task, yet rarely are pianists applauded for the obvious similar difficulties. nina.x uses her keys as much a percussion instrument as a mood setter, and her voice, her body language, her passion for everything about her performance is a wonderful thing to witness” b.ladhams, xpress 5/5/05

· Interviewed by Groove Magazine (Issue #11 July/Sept 2005)

“…Perth audiences started to sit up and take notice when she performed compositions such as ‘Take What You Will’ and ‘When The End Comes (i wanna hold it)’. They are glorious affairs with lots of tension and a masterful symbiosis between vocals and her percussive keys…” h.shawcross, groove magazine issue 11 july/sept 2005

· Nominated for a 2006 WAMI (Western Australian Music Industry) award for best jazz act.

· Performed at Club Zho 18/9/06

· Interviewed by Grok Magazine (Issue #5 2006)

· Featured on Bleeding Edge Podcast (Sept. 06)

· Reviewed by m.hogan, the drum media, issue 11 nov 30 2006

“That young Ms X can play keyboard better than most of us can operate a toaster and her voice recalls great jazz singers of days gone by.” m.hogan, the drum media, issue 11 nov 30 2006

· Airplay on Triple J Super Request on Mon 19th February 2007.

Contemporary Works (2005-present)

· My first ‘classical’ work “Dreams of Troubled Sleep”, a 3-minute piece for amplified soprano and piano, was premiered at Club Zho on 20^th June 2005. This work also uses a digital delay pedal, which I intend to experiment with further in the future.

· Wrote the soundtrack for the independent film “The Title” in June/July of 2005.

· Electronic vocal/piano piece ‘girl eyes & bones’ played at Sound Spectrum 3, as part of the electro acoustic night.

· Work for 3 flutes & vibraphone ‘rail, heart, spine’ performed at Club Zho on on 18th September 2006.

· Wrote the score for the independant Screen Academy film “Gusto” in September of 2006. Film screened at Luna, Leederville 21st October.

· Work showcased at 2007 Artrage’s ‘Orchestral Night Moves’ on 1st November.

· Performed at Sound Spectrum 4.

· Wrote paper ‘Surburban Dread: The Music of Angelo Badalamenti inThe Films of David Lynch’ to be presented at TURA’s Totally Huge New Music Festival in April 2007.

· Score for Gusto nominated in 2007 WA Screen Awards for best score.

Contact

I am interested in many genres of music and particularly enjoys/am influenced by jazz, film scores, contemporary classical, post-rock and experimental. I also has a love of film and am particularly interested in the relationship between sound and vision. My favourite artists include Billie Holiday, John Zorn, Oren Ambarchi, Antony and the Johnsons, Penderecki, Schoenberg, PJ Harvey, Mike Patton, Fiona Apple, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Bjork, Tom Waits, Angelo Badalamenti, Bernard Herrmann and Diamanda Galas. I am particularly interested in writing for film but am happy to write for dance and other projects. I can be contacted via email at clare_nina@hotmail.com