Search - Vic Chesnutt, Elf Power, The Amorphous Strums :: Dark Developments

Dark Developments
Vic Chesnutt, Elf Power, The Amorphous Strums
Dark Developments
Genres: Alternative Rock, Pop, Rock
 
  •  Track Listings (9) - Disc #1

"Because of Chesnutt's idiosyncratic appeal, there is usually something to love on every album. He's an amazing influencer and sponge for whatever group of individuals he collaborates with and on any particular recording s...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Vic Chesnutt, Elf Power, The Amorphous Strums
Title: Dark Developments
Members Wishing: 6
Total Copies: 0
Label: Orange Twin
Original Release Date: 1/1/2008
Re-Release Date: 10/14/2008
Genres: Alternative Rock, Pop, Rock
Styles: Indie & Lo-Fi, Singer-Songwriters
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 656605663128

Synopsis

Album Description
"Because of Chesnutt's idiosyncratic appeal, there is usually something to love on every album. He's an amazing influencer and sponge for whatever group of individuals he collaborates with and on any particular recording session." -- Tiny Mix Tapes A tuneful collision of Athens institutions finds fruition this fall when Orange Twin releases Vic Chesnutt's collaboration with Elephant 6 originals Elf Power. 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 Chesnutt'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. Chesnutt's songwriting retains its trademark literary bent--central songs carry the narrative weight, sturdy construction, and lexical mystery of a long lost Raymond Carver story. And as he woos you with his squelched, beautiful melodies, his sonic turns-in-the road take an even stranger tack with the aid of psych-pop veterans Elf Power. Recorded over the course of a winter by Vic Chesnutt 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. Elf Power's tripped-out 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 the band's joyful chemistry that buoys the album, provides freshness, and makes for highly rewarding repeated listening. Dark Developments stands as a classic addition to the legendary local pantheon.
 

CD Reviews

Not to be missed
Niall | San Francisco | 12/03/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)

"What??? This has been out for almost two months and no reviews?



I thought I had all the Vic Chesnutt releases I needed, having stopped buying them after the release of Silver Lake. But the combination of VC and Elf Power was too tempting. VC does some of his best work in collaboration with other bands and this pairing is perfect.



If you've never heard Vic Chesnutt before this is the place to start.



"
This is not what Vic did best...but he does it so very well.
Greg | Brooklyn Park, Mongolia | 01/20/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ordinarily I like my Vic Chesnutt stripped down and raw. Just the pure poetry of that wounded, haunting voice accompanied by the artfully clumsy guitar work, as on "Skitter on Takeoff." But this work of apt, adept, skillful intrusmentation provides a different kind of frame for that voice, that poetry. What emerges is both more experimental and more accessible than what I'm used to from Chesnutt's more recent output."