At The Cut

At the Cut picks up where North Star Deserter left off, with the explosive opening tune 'Coward' displaying all the epic soaring thrust this band is capable of. Vic debuted this song as part of Jem Cohen's 'film hallucination' Empires Of Tin when it was performed live with the touring band at the 2007 Vienna Film Festival. Re-recorded for At the Cut, it certainly does cut to the chase, as Vic bellows 'I am a coward' to trigger a massive unison instrumental line, reinforcing the tune's double edged opening lyric (and Frank Norris quote) 'The courage of the coward - greater than all others.' From this bracing beginning, however, At the Cut quickly changes temperature and temperament, settling into what is arguably the most intimate, pensive and heartbreaking work of Vic Chesnutt's career. Cowardice, courage, mortality, tenacity, defiance, mourning and memory are its themes. Throughout the album, and even on the two tracks that blister and blast with this rocking band - 'Coward' and 'Philip Guston' - there is a lyrical intimacy and directness, a searingly raw honesty to Vic's voice and words, that finds no parallel in his body of work to date.