Vessels- Helioscope

I am a shallow music listener because usually I don't take the time to find out anything about the band I am listening to. I figure, they sound good, why bother finding out anything about them? Unless of course they are really, really good. (Did you know that Little Birdy was named after a Ween song?) The Vessels made me endeavour to discover something interesting as their music was so interesting, and this would also allow me to tack something onto the end of my recommendation.

“Have you heard the Vessels? Oh! You should they are good and *INSERT INTERSTING COMMENT HERE*”

So, off to google I go and the first thing I find is their webpage (handy thing > http://vesselsband.com/ ) and discover they are British. This may not seem major to many people but I am a real sucker for British music (I know... I am a traitor to my own country) and this seemed like something I ought to follow on with. I then found out that they had a previous album that they released back in 2008 (Don't worry. It is downloading now.) They also consist of five members; Tim  Mitchell, Martin Teff, Tom Evans, Lee J. Malcolm and Peter Wright.

Moving on from my lame background information that most of you probably know already...

Helioscope. Good stuff. Actually, really good stuff. Considering I had to wait two hours for it to download because I went over my limit, it had better have been. It didn't disappoint.

The first song on the album "Monoform" served as a way of calming me down from the murderous- throw- my- laptop- out- of- the- window point I was at. It is sort of trippy and reminds me a little of "M4" by the Faunts but more rock. "The Trap" keeps the mood.

The first vocals on the album start at "Recur" and I like it. It is simple  and  perfectly compliments the complicated almost rock music your ears are now revealed to.

"Later Than You Think" opens with a calming soft sound that has you straining to pick out what exactly it is. The music then builds your suspense as it becomes louder and closer to you then fades off  and opens up to another complicated, rhythmic and creative part of the song. The sound at the beginning then fades out, and it opens up to reveal another layer, then comes back to the sound. It goes round and round like this and it is a piece of music that is very well thought out and planned but still holds a spontaneous feeling in it as you aren't quite sure what the next layer it holds.

So maybe I am just a little girl on the inside because I was giggling for several minutes because of the title, and the lyrics of "Meatman, Piano Tuner, Prostitute", “We'll ride horses, After we bathe together.” This is not because I am an insensitive, immature person but because a few of my straight male friends were joking about riding horses naked together the very same night... Seemed like an odd and funny coincidence to me... After I got over my own personal problems I really had to respect this song for its creativity and musical talents. The eerie sweet tinkling music and right of stage singing gives way to the end rock climax.

"Art/Choke" then continues the rock mood "Meatman, Piano Tuner and Prostitute" just set up, but minus the vocals. It builds the rock mood, then breaks off to allow for some fancy frett work, then builds again. Heal takes you back into the electronic sounds that the Vessels seem to have mastered.

"All Our Ends" is my favourite song on the album. Vocals, electronic music, the complicated layering all perfectly matched and really hits the spot.

Finally,  "Spun Infinite" is the prefect end to Helioscope with note holding lyrics to electronic mixed music. It seems quite a sad song, due to the elongated sound over the minor notes.

All in all, a good album. The strong instrumental and electronic sounds are quite polished with the vocals enhancing the music instead of being the reason to have the music. Refreshing and invigorating to listen to.

- Koala

Buy here: Helioscope