Vapor Records
2009
Skitter On Take Off
About This Album
Only a few months after releasing his sophomore collaboration with Thee Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra, At the Cut, Vic Chesnutt has emerged with his second album of 2009, Skitter on Take-Off, and the two projects could hardly sound more different. While Thee Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra summoned a grand and gloriously idiosyncratic barrage of sound to accompany Chesnutt's songs, Skitter on Take-Off is a spare and minimal affair; Jonathan Richman and his longtime drummer Tommy Larkin produced these sessions, and though they offer understated support on a few songs (most audibly on the upbeat "Society Sue"), for the most part this is just Chesnutt's voice and acoustic guitar, cut live in the studio with a touch so light that at times it seems as if the microphones are eavesdropping on Chesnutt as much as capturing a performance. Chesnutt is an artist who is best served by emotionally direct performances, and the stark intimacy of Skitter on Take-Off largely works in his favor; the venomous whisper of "Dick Cheney" is all the more powerful for the fact there's so little to obscure it, and two lengthy tracks, "Rips in the Fabric" and "Worst Friend," give Chesnutt all the space he needs to spin his curious but compelling tales in all their richly detailed glory.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,5,6 and 7)

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