| Death Vessel — Island Intervals (2014) |
Death Vessel — Island Intervals
→ Maine native makes earthy music from a distant star with a rotating cast of guests and beguiling vocals.
Location: Providence, Rhode Island
Album release: February 25, 2014
Record Label: Sub Pop
Duration: 33:48
Tracks:
1 Ejecta 5:33
2 Velvet Antlers 3:44
3 Triangulated Heart 3:28
4 Mercury Dime 3:21
5 Ilsa Drown 4:36
6 Island Vapors 4:05
7 We Agreed 4:18
8 Loom 4:43
Written by Joel Thibodeau & Jónsi / Joel Thibodeau (5)
Album Moods: Quirky Amiable/Good–Natured Bittersweet Earnest Intimate Irreverent Melancholy Plaintive Playful Poignant Sentimental Wistful Yearning
Credits:
Sasha Barr Layout
Taylor Dupree Mastering
JJ Golden Mastering
Corey Grayhorse Photography
Jónsi Composer, Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals
Samuli Kosminen Drums, Engineer, Percussion
Alex Somers Bells, Bowed Piano, Drums, Dulcitone, Engineer, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Bass), Guitar (Electric), Mixing, Percussion, Piano, Producer, Pump Organ, Toy Piano, Toys, Ukulele, Vocals (Background)
Alec Thibodeau Cover Art, Illustrations
Joel Thibodeau Celeste, Composer, Dulcitone, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Bass), Guitar (Electric), Keyboards, Metallophone, Piano, Pump Organ, Toy Piano, Toys, Ukulele, Vocals
REVIEW
By Josiah Hughes
→ Joel Thibodeau, the mastermind behind indie folk outfit Death Vessel, hasn't released much since his Sub Pop debut Nothing is Precious Enough For Us in 2008 (Score: 7.4 by Marc Masters: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/12098-nothing-is-precious-enough-for-us/). That will change shortly, with a new album set for release early next year.
→ The new record, which is the third from Death Vessel overall, is called Island Intervals, and was recorded in Iceland with producer Alex Somers (who's worked with Julianna Barwick and Sigur Rós, among others).
→ In keeping with the Icelandic theme, the album's first single "Ilsa Drown" features vocals from Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi. You can stream the song below.
→ Rather than cobble together some press release quotes of their own, the label reached out to Thibodeau's contemporary Jonathan Meiburg (of Shearwater), who offered the following glowing statement:
→ Like Nico's, Jimmy Scott's, or Phil Elverum's, Joel Thibodeau's is a voice that demands its own sonic and lyrical world, and with Island Intervals, his third record as Death Vessel (and second for Sub Pop), we're treated to the sound of him finding a rich and strange new home among new friends in Iceland who probably saw him as a long–lost relative. Joel's an inveterate and intuitive wanderer; when I met him years ago, he'd just spent a few months traveling the United States on Greyhound buses, sometimes sleeping rough, and making a record from found moments. I remember he had an otherworldly quality about him that I couldn't quite name, like he'd just blown in on the wind.
→ Island Intervals will be available on February 25 via Sub Pop. Fortaken: http://exclaim.ca/
Review by Fred Thomas; Score: ****
→ The last we heard from Providence, Rhode Island–based songwriter Joel Thibodeau aka Death Vessel was the earthy fare of 2008's Nothing Is Precious Enough for Us. While that album wasn't exclusively folk music, its acoustic core was in line with the woodsier tendencies of Thibodeau's songwriting, serving as a gentle and sometimes dark backdrop for his uncommonly high voice and sentimental moods. → Death Vessel comes out of a six–year hiatus with Island Intervals, an icily beautiful album that veers away from the campfire reflections of past albums and into far more sophisticated arrangements, production, and songwriting. The frosty feel of the album is presumably owed in no small part to the involvement of Icelandic collaborators Samuli Kosminen from Múm and Alex Somers, who has worked closely with Sigur Rós. Recording in Reykjavik, the team injected a glistening sheen of distant dreaminess into Thibodeau's always developing songwriting. Opening with the organ–driven "Ejecta," clangy sample–based rhythms and choruses of frozen backing vocals support the song's ghostly melodies, gelling into a slab of majestic orchestral pop on par with Björk's most haunting Vespertine–era material. Even "Ilsa Drown," a tune that opens with a patently folky fingerpicked acoustic guitar figure, quickly develops into a glowing bed of winter ambience and subtle quavering electronic sounds. "Triangulated Heart" is one of the more melodic songs of the set, with processed bell sounds and chimes gliding around a dreamy singsong melody before evaporating into a blur of aquatic vocal effects. The album is one full of highlights, with a sad beauty surrounding it that makes these songs immediately deeper, more connective, and more exciting than anything Death Vessel has brought us before.
_______________________________________________________________
| Death Vessel — Island Intervals (2014) |
→ Maine native makes earthy music from a distant star with a rotating cast of guests and beguiling vocals.
Location: Providence, Rhode Island
Album release: February 25, 2014
Record Label: Sub Pop
Duration: 33:48
Tracks:
1 Ejecta 5:33
2 Velvet Antlers 3:44
3 Triangulated Heart 3:28
4 Mercury Dime 3:21
5 Ilsa Drown 4:36
6 Island Vapors 4:05
7 We Agreed 4:18
8 Loom 4:43
Written by Joel Thibodeau & Jónsi / Joel Thibodeau (5)
Album Moods: Quirky Amiable/Good–Natured Bittersweet Earnest Intimate Irreverent Melancholy Plaintive Playful Poignant Sentimental Wistful Yearning
Credits:
Sasha Barr Layout
Taylor Dupree Mastering
JJ Golden Mastering
Corey Grayhorse Photography
Jónsi Composer, Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals
Samuli Kosminen Drums, Engineer, Percussion
Alex Somers Bells, Bowed Piano, Drums, Dulcitone, Engineer, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Bass), Guitar (Electric), Mixing, Percussion, Piano, Producer, Pump Organ, Toy Piano, Toys, Ukulele, Vocals (Background)
Alec Thibodeau Cover Art, Illustrations
Joel Thibodeau Celeste, Composer, Dulcitone, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Bass), Guitar (Electric), Keyboards, Metallophone, Piano, Pump Organ, Toy Piano, Toys, Ukulele, Vocals
REVIEW
By Josiah Hughes
→ Joel Thibodeau, the mastermind behind indie folk outfit Death Vessel, hasn't released much since his Sub Pop debut Nothing is Precious Enough For Us in 2008 (Score: 7.4 by Marc Masters: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/12098-nothing-is-precious-enough-for-us/). That will change shortly, with a new album set for release early next year.
→ The new record, which is the third from Death Vessel overall, is called Island Intervals, and was recorded in Iceland with producer Alex Somers (who's worked with Julianna Barwick and Sigur Rós, among others).
→ In keeping with the Icelandic theme, the album's first single "Ilsa Drown" features vocals from Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi. You can stream the song below.
→ Rather than cobble together some press release quotes of their own, the label reached out to Thibodeau's contemporary Jonathan Meiburg (of Shearwater), who offered the following glowing statement:
→ Like Nico's, Jimmy Scott's, or Phil Elverum's, Joel Thibodeau's is a voice that demands its own sonic and lyrical world, and with Island Intervals, his third record as Death Vessel (and second for Sub Pop), we're treated to the sound of him finding a rich and strange new home among new friends in Iceland who probably saw him as a long–lost relative. Joel's an inveterate and intuitive wanderer; when I met him years ago, he'd just spent a few months traveling the United States on Greyhound buses, sometimes sleeping rough, and making a record from found moments. I remember he had an otherworldly quality about him that I couldn't quite name, like he'd just blown in on the wind.
→ Island Intervals will be available on February 25 via Sub Pop. Fortaken: http://exclaim.ca/
Review by Fred Thomas; Score: ****
→ The last we heard from Providence, Rhode Island–based songwriter Joel Thibodeau aka Death Vessel was the earthy fare of 2008's Nothing Is Precious Enough for Us. While that album wasn't exclusively folk music, its acoustic core was in line with the woodsier tendencies of Thibodeau's songwriting, serving as a gentle and sometimes dark backdrop for his uncommonly high voice and sentimental moods. → Death Vessel comes out of a six–year hiatus with Island Intervals, an icily beautiful album that veers away from the campfire reflections of past albums and into far more sophisticated arrangements, production, and songwriting. The frosty feel of the album is presumably owed in no small part to the involvement of Icelandic collaborators Samuli Kosminen from Múm and Alex Somers, who has worked closely with Sigur Rós. Recording in Reykjavik, the team injected a glistening sheen of distant dreaminess into Thibodeau's always developing songwriting. Opening with the organ–driven "Ejecta," clangy sample–based rhythms and choruses of frozen backing vocals support the song's ghostly melodies, gelling into a slab of majestic orchestral pop on par with Björk's most haunting Vespertine–era material. Even "Ilsa Drown," a tune that opens with a patently folky fingerpicked acoustic guitar figure, quickly develops into a glowing bed of winter ambience and subtle quavering electronic sounds. "Triangulated Heart" is one of the more melodic songs of the set, with processed bell sounds and chimes gliding around a dreamy singsong melody before evaporating into a blur of aquatic vocal effects. The album is one full of highlights, with a sad beauty surrounding it that makes these songs immediately deeper, more connective, and more exciting than anything Death Vessel has brought us before.
_______________________________________________________________