Album Review: Vessels - Helioscope

Carrying on the post-rock torch that has been held by Mogwai & Explosions in the Sky. Vessels bring forth a rich ambient soundscape for their second effort, ‘Helioscope’. ‘Monoform’ starts out as a skipping synthesizer, passing between two notes until a distorted synth riff accompanied by a pounding drum beat showcases the main melody, ‘Monoform’ really showcases Tim Mitchell’s dynamic range. It isn’t until the song gets to the four minute mark where things really start to get interested, after a filtered synth floods your speakers, a wall of guitars shatters the barriers of your ear drum and with 4 guitarists in this band, it’s hardly surprising.

Tom Evan’s minimalistic vocals on ‘Recur’ are reminiscent of Jake Snider (lead vocals for Minus The Bear), if he were to join the Foo Fighters for an acoustic tour. Backed up by harmonies from Lee Malcolm and Peter Wright, the band manages to create a vast space of vocals. The only drawback is that due to the minimalistic vocals, the lyrics aren’t really coherent and therefore a singalong would be quite awkward.

The band really change the pace on the first single from this LP, ‘Meatman, Piano Tuner, Prostitute’, featuring Stuart Warwick, a slow ballad featuring Warwick’s Thom Yorke-esque croon. This change of pace is revisited on ‘Heal’, a rich textured passing thought before ‘All Our Ends’, a combination of Math Rock and ambient post-rock, kicks in. The song features some lush plucking from an acoustic guitar in parts before clashing with a dissonant organ. A song as gentle as ‘Spun Infinite’ is unburdened and features Tom Evan’s passionate vocals on top of a whirring organ, eventually fading out into nothing.

4/5

'Helioscope' by Vessels is available now on Cuckundoo Records.

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George Gadd