Athens’ musical mainstays Vic Chesnutt and Elephant 6 originals Elf Power will hit the road again this week with dates stretching around the globe and into the spring in support of their collaborative release, Dark Developments on Orange Twin Records. One special stop on the tour includes a March 11th performance at the legendary venue Carnegie Hall in NYC as part of a night tribute performances to REM.A tuneful collision of Athens institutions found fruition in the fall of 2008 when Orange Twin Records released Vic Chesnutt’s collaboration with Elephant 6 psychsters Elf Power, Dark Developments. As intriguing as this combination may seem for hardcore fans of either act, the final sonic results reveal a daunting sum much greater than even the involvement of such esteemed parts would imply. The Elves’ lived-in dexterity as a live band goads Vic’s vocal delivery to a menacing new muscularity, imbuing this batch of songs with a sinister vibe not dissimilar to John Cale’s black classic Fear, the harsh, articulate sleaze of Lou Reed’s Street Hassle or the defeated low key soul-music of Nick Lowe’s last few records. As useful as these benchmark-records are in identifying Dark Developments’ own unique spirit, this record truly stands on its own as a brilliant statement, a classic addition to Athens’ legendary pantheon, and, most importantly, as an organic meeting of two separately-evolved and vital musical entities that never feels forced, flashy or false. This is an important album endemic of a natural partnership, and a great way to spend an afternoon.
Vic Chesnutt’s songwriting retains its trademark literary bent, as a tune like “Stop The Horse,” or the withered gallows-stroll of “The Mad Passion of The Stoic” flash the narrative weight, sturdy construction and lexical mystery of a long lost Raymond Carver story. And Chesnutt can still woo you with the odd, beautiful chord-change, the compelling melody and the strange sonic turn in the road. Album opener “Mystery,” moves from a desperately wordless lullaby into a torchy, fragile folk-waltz and back again in about three minutes time, all the while supporting an intuitive rumination on loss and the passage of time. There’s a reggae stutter buried in the bridges and verses of “Teddy Bear,” an oddball keyboard vamp suturing them all together, and a chorus of strange beheaded whispers orbiting just outside the elemental and poignant refrain: “He ain’t never comin’ back.” Again, this all transpires within the pop-sanctioned three-minute borderline, and the song stands as a totem for just how action-packed this record is on all levels.
Recorded over the course of a winter by Vic and Derek Almstead in Chesnutt’s own attic studio, Dark Developments revels in the intimate, home-recorded atmosphere you’d expect from an Athenian union like this. And Elf Power sounds characteristically powerful in this setting: there’s the crack rhythm section of Almstead and Josh Lott (making his final appearance as an Elf) to anchor the affair, the subtle and tremulous interplay of guitarists Andrew Reiger and Jimmy Hughes, and the esoteric whimsy supplied by Laura Carter’s improvisational Moog and accordion. Indeed, the band’s famously-honed instincts and Day-Glo pop-smarts provide the contradictory musical notions that never allow the album to sway too far in one bleak direction or another: it’s that friction extant between Chesnutt’s shadowy worldview and the inventive bounce and bray of Elf Power’s euphonious intra-band chemistry that buoys Dark Developments, provides its freshness, and makes for rewarding repeated listening.
Vic Chesnutt and Elf Power Live:
USA
01/21 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
01/22 Washington, DC @ Black Cat
01/23 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
01/24 Boston, MA @ Middle East
01/25 Philadelphia, PA @ North Star
01/26 State College, PA @ Chronic Town
01/27 Pittsburgh, PA @ Garfield Artworks
01/28 Pontiac, MI @ Pike Room at Crofoot
01/29 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
01/30 Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon
01/31 Minneapolis, MN @ 400 Bar
02/01 Rock Island, IL @ Huckleberry's Pizza Parlor
02/02 Indianapolis, IN @ Local's Only
02/03 Nashville, TN @ Exit/In
02/04 Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle
02/05 Columbia, SC @ Art Bar
02/06 Charleston, SC @ Pourhouse
02/07 Athens, GA @ 40 Watt
03/11 New York, NY @ Carnegie Hall REM Tribute Show
EUROPE
03/14 Dag In De Branding Festival - Den Haag (NL)
03/15 Arenbergschouwburg Club - Antwerp (B)
03/16 Café De La Danse - Paris (F)
03/17 La Poudrière - Belfort (F)
03/18 L’ Autre Canal - Nancy (F)
03/19 FriSon - Fribourg (CH)
03/20 Spazio - Turin (I)
03/21 Bronson - Ravenna (I)
03/22 Circolo Degli Artisti - Rome (I)
03/23 2009 : Magnolia - Milan (I)
03/24 Grabenhalle - St Gallen (CH)
03/25 De Kreun - Kortrijk (B)
03/26 Engine Room - Brighton (UK)
03/27 Cluny – Newcastle (UK)
03/28 Arts Depot – London (UK)
03/29 Cube – Bristol (UK)
03/30 Tavastia – Helsinki (FIN)
03/31 Klubi – Tampere (FIN)
Vic Chesnutt, Elf Power, and The Amorphous Strums
Dark Developments Track Listing:
Stream The Album HERE
Release Date: October 28th, 2008
01. Mystery
02. Little Fucker
03. And How (MP3)
04. Teddy Bear (MP3)
05. We Are Mean
06. Stop The Horse
07. Bilocating Dog
08. The Mad Passion of The Stoic
09. Phil The Fiddler
Tools & Hi–Res Photos:
www.fanaticpromotion.com/rosterdetails.php?indexkey=1407
On The Web:
www.vicchesnutt.com
www.elfpower.com
www.myspace.com/vicchesnutt
www.myspace.com/elfpower
www.orangetwin.com
www.myspace.com/orangetwinrecords
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