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Album Reviews
Album Review: Vessels – White Fields & Open Devices (Cuckundoo Records)
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 10 November 2008
Post-rock is not the easiest genre to break into. Many have tried over the years, and most have stumbled at the first hurdle – failing to bring something new to the epic loud-quiet-louder formula laid down by the likes of Mogwai and Explosions In The Sky. Some don’t have the talent, others just don’t have the imagination. Thankfully, Vessels have both in spades and, with their debut album, have not only managed to elbow their way in amongst the other bands in the genre, but have pushed straight past them and begun dictating new rules.
Having always worked first on writing music to form part of the most engaging and exciting live show possible, as anyone who witnessed a stunning CMU Social performance earlier this year will know, the band took this collection of room-filling songs to Minnesota and charged legendary producer John Congleton (Explosions In The Sky, The Polyphonic Spree, Modest Mouse) with the task of containing them within a recording without losing any of that power. Not an easy task, certainly, but one he and the band succeeded in pulling off, in order to create ‘White Fields & Open Devices’.
With math-rock influences a plenty, complex song structures and irregular time signature changes, they have recorded one of the most exciting albums to be released this year. From the thrilling heaviness of tracks like ‘An Idle Brain & The Devil’s Workshop’, or the single, ‘A Hundred Times In Every Direction’, to the sublime, piano-led ‘Yuki’, this album is simply flawless. AHM
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