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Aquarium Drunkard: Diversions :: Elf Power on Vic Chesnutt
(Diversions, a recurring feature on Aquarium Drunkard, catches up with our favorite artists as they wax on subjects other than recording and performing.)
Dedicated to their friend and collaborator Vic Chesnutt, Elf Power’s self-titled tenth LP is one of maturity and grace. A decade and a half into their career, the group’s lo-fi leaning pop songwriting continues to evolve without abandoning the very thing that drew us in in the first place. Below Elf Power’s Andrew Rieger reflects on his relationship with the music of the late Vic Chesnutt. Look for Elf Power out September 14th on Orange Twin Records.
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I was a big REM fan as a teenager growing up in the small town of Greenwood, South Carolina, just eighty miles away from Athens, GA where the band lived. REM turned me onto a lot of other obscure bands that i had not yet discovered through the cover songs they recorded and played live.
This is how I first learned about great bands like Velvet Underground, Mission of Burma, Television, and Athens’ own Pylon. The members of REM also played on and produced records by lots of other great bands which lead me to the likes of the Replacements, the Feelies, Hugo Largo, and one of our greatest modern songwriters, Vic Chesnutt, whose first two albums, Little and West of Rome, were produced by Michael Stipe.
