Vic Chesnutt, Elf Power and the Amorphous Strums, Dark Developments

review by dave heaton

Vic Chesnutt’s discography already is a portrait of an artist at home with collaborating with musicians from various backgrounds. His last album had him in Canada working with members of Godspeed You Black Emperor and other like-minded bands. This new one has him in his own town of Athens, GA, his own attic even, playing with locals Elf Power and friends. Elf Power backs up Chesnutt with a full, in some ways rustic, in other ways bluesy, pop-rock sound, sometimes joining in with a backing-vocals sing-along to give the album a communal feel, one fitting its label Orange Twin.

The album at first seemed harder to get one clear grasp on than with many of Chesnutt’s albums, but it’s nonetheless intriguing. The anger in “Little Fucker”, farewell tone of the rather lovely “Teddy Bear” and the back cover art of a robot imperialist at first made me think of it as one last punch in the face to our current President. But Chesnutt’s a poet, his albums are never as simple as that. So there’s of course more to it.

The opening song is classic Chesnutt, his wry thoughtful side; the lyrics tell us there’s no mystery while keeping us feeling puzzled. If there’s no mystery, why don’t I know what’s going on? “Bilocating Dog” and “Phil the Fiddler” are odd little American folk tales, the lengthy latter offering a litany of eccentric characters before the guitarists go on a spree. “Stop the Horse” and “Mad Passion of the Stoic” are both slow dazes, the psychedelic side of Chesnutt perhaps, though his lead vocals on the former song are quite direct. Here is where the album title is revealed not as a commentary on modern times but as a reference to an artist’s fumblings: “I’ve been playing around with a pin-hole camera / I’ve been dodging the flashes when they come to light / then I paste my dark developments in an old ledger book I found on a rubbage pile.” Take Dark Developments, then, as another interesting brick in the path forged by Chesnutt, one of the most fascinating songwriters of our era.

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