Vic Chesnutt - Keeping It On The Road

North Star Deserter is strong, serious stuff. Vic Chesnutt made a record for the intellect and the emotions to live together. Always there is an air of tension on this record, some songs are very calm, spare, and restrained, just contrabasse from Thierry Amar and Vic’s nylon string guitar, they always signal, in a dramatic way, the major section of the album, compositions of explosive grandeur like Everything I Say and Debriefing, where the musicians from Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band give Vic Chesnutt space in which to walk without abandoning him. Another major moment on this record is Splendid with the beautiful guitar playing ala Dead Man from Efrim (Godspeed You! Black Emperor).

North Star Deserter was constructed with the help of Jem Cohen a New York City-based filmmaker and this is one of the reasons why the album sounds so good. It’s a winter record. It’s one of my favorite albums so far this year.

Web: vicchesnutt.com
MySpace: myspace.com/vicchesnutt
Label: constellation records

Vic Chesnutt - You Are Never Alone .mp3 from the 40watt 6/11/07 at Southern Shelter
Vic Chesnutt - What Do You Mean? .mp3 (Ghetto Bells, 2005)

Bonus: Thee Silver Mt Zion Orchestra And Tra-la-la Band - God Bless Our Dead Marines .mp3