Category:
Roots / Folk

Try if you like:
Freedy Johnston, John Prine, Lambchop, Mark Eitzel

Really, Vic Chesnutt has hardly wavered in his long and rewarding career. He almost lost me on his last album, Ghetto Bells but has regained his footing with his new full-length, North Star Deserter. This is honestly one of his most beautiful offerings to date. I think that has a lot to do with the company he had while recording. Now you may notice that North Star Deserter is on Constellation, the beloved home of many artsy post-rock bands. Mr. Chesnutt was invited up to Montreal to record this album by movie producer Jem Cohen. Joining him in the studio are Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra as well as Guy Picciotto (Fugazi), Chad Jones & Nadia Moss (Frankie Sparo), Eric Craven & Genevieve Heistek (Hangedup), Bruce Cawdron (Godspeed You! Black Emperor), and T. Griffin (The Quavers). Sounds like a party. With this group of musicians all lending a hand, Constellation may have just provided what Vic needed for inspiration. 

The album works so well as a whole. It one of those albums where the order of the songs seems just as important as the songs themselves. There is no argument that Vic is a great songwriter so when you get musicians of this calibre helping out the arrangements end up writing themselves. Just listen to the ebb and flow of the epic 8 minute "Splendid" and you'll see where this album can take you. It is the sort of disc that demands headphones and very few interruptions. I'm not going to go into detail on every song here. All you need to know is that this is a brilliant piece of moody folk music. It is very atmospheric and organic. It has dark and dour overtones but Vic's optimism wins you over.

If you have been a Chesnutt fan, there is no reason why North Star Deserter should disappoint. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you were like me in thinking that this is a new chapter in Vic's long career.