VIC CHESNUTT
Silver Lake (New West)
Reviewed by John Sekerka

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After a couple of years of puttering around, Vic Chesnutt returns to form with a brilliant record, and a new direction of sorts. The mousy singer songwriter still delivers his seemingly innocuous yet ruthlessly biting folk ditties with a soft plea and gentle guitar strum, but there's definite embellishment in the arrangements as our man Vic works the magic of melody. Beautiful, majestic stuff, yet simple enough to set up the words just right. And with Vic, whether happy, sad or downright disturbing, the word is the deal. Now he's perfecting the art of the complete delivery as well. Southern American gothic that'll rattle your senses never sounded this grand.

© 2004 - John Sekerka