Crawdaddy! The Magazine of Rock

Vic Chesnutt, Elf Power and the Amorphous Strums
Dark Developments
(Orange Twin, 2008)

I don’t have the best associations with tiny town Athens, Georgia, despite having two girlfriends of longstanding there whom I’m hoping will forgive me for saying that.

The first time I visited was at the end of a particular phase of life for me while the last time marked another turning point. Of course, the other side to endings are the new beginnings and vastly improved circumstances that lay beyond the crossroads, though mine is a mind that likes to latch onto the pain of it all. Perhaps I could take a tip from Athens-bound Vic Chesnutt, whose stock-in-trade is juxtaposing sadness with humor and light, bringing beauty to even the most dire straits.

Chesnutt was first appreciated and recorded by Michael Stipe, who discovered him in town, live at the 40 Watt Club. In 1996, R.E.M., Madonna, Smashing Pumpkins, and others came to Chesnutt’s sweet relief with a benefit album (he’s been wheelchair-bound since the age of 18). That failing to commercially elevate his profile into the ranks of his benefactors, he’s nevertheless remained a prolific artist and collaborator, releasing critically appreciated records on his own as well as with quasi-fringe and experimental artists like Lambchop and Bill Frisell. Now it’s Athens townies Elf Power, part of the Elephant 6 collective, who’ve stepped up and the combination of the two forces is as lovely as anything fans of either concern could wish for—probably lovelier, despite, or maybe because of its mystery, which happens to be the name of the first song.

Riffing on an old Bach tune, then sliding into the second song, titled “Little Fucker”, at first I thought, “Man, I’m going to have to add ‘free jazz’” to describe the varieties of sounds Chesnutt and Elf Power draw on, but just then I discovered my iTunes was on shuffle and I was tracking Ornette Coleman instead of Dark Developments. It took me a minute to figure that out though, because the sonic wash of emotion could plausibly have been coming from Chesnutt and Elf—that is, until the saxophone kicked in. Once I cued up the real “Little Fucker,” the album was truly off and running on garage rock and tremolo steam, gang background vocals, and a little spirit borrowed from that touchstone of life’s underbelly, Lou Reed’s Berlin. Not that I’m overly familiar with Berlin, but having recently seen the Julian Schnabel film of Lou Reed performing it, I was blown away at how accessible and beautiful Reed’s tunes were in contrast to the dark and murky vibe I’d long associated with that project. But back to Chesnutt, I’d go as far as to challenge anyone familiar with the Velvet Underground and Reed not to think of them as “We Are Mean” opens. And yet, only country-guy Chesnutt could deliver this lyric about city folks’ assumptions about small town life and vice versa.

“The Mad Passion of the Stoic” is not only a great title, its “you always hurt the one you love” is set to the tone of something that could be taken from the “American tribal love rock musical,” Hair. Okay, so it might seem a random, gratuitous mention, especially because I gave my ritual once-a-decade listen to Hair last weekend. But I have to say, it’s somehow apt: The album was made in Chesnutt’s home studio and released on Elf Power’s label, Orange Twin, profits from which go toward the creation of a 150-acre sustainable eco-village, an idea that’s kinda hippy, kinda now. But more to the point, Chesnutt’s grasp is that audacious—he could probably knock out a classic rock opera if given half a chance. And if there’s any place someone should write a musical about it’s Athens, Georgia. The stories that town could tell would rival anything Reed saw in Berlin or beyond. Perhaps it’s time for me to revisit the place.

Listen: “Stop the Horse” live at Festival Sinsal [at orangetwin.com]

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