Written by Lee Powell    

Following hot on the heals of their excellent self-released, self-titled  introductory CD the Vessels turn with their debut official release in the shape of the stunning double A side ‘Yuki/Forever the Optimist’.

Starting with ‘Yuki’ you instantly know you’re listening to something special.  Accompanied initially be a lone piano is the low droney almost Tom Yorke styled vocals that captivate you almost instantly.  The bittersweet melancholy that emanates from the amalgamation of piano and vocals is darkly haunting yet delicately uplifting.  Setting a mood and intensity that is complexly sharp whist at the same time being invitingly isolated.  These contradictory teams only help seal in the emotive power and aural descriptiveness that ‘Yuki’ demonstrates almost straight away.  With the delicate infusion of immensely subtle glitched electronica ala Efterklang the depth and atmosphere the track projects slowly starts to build however with the inclusion of swathes of guitars ‘Yuki’ crescendos upwards and temporarily becomes another more powerful beast in itself before slowly sliding back into its original form of piano and vocals before drawing to a timeless end.     

‘Forever The Optimist’ seems the expansion of the rockier elements the Vessels flirted with on their debut release, however on this occasion this is kept in check and in doing so it only add another slightly heavier dimension to the bands sound and presence as apposed to becoming too over powering.  Here pounding drums are accompanied by guitars and wonderfully delivered multi-layered vocal arrangements that melt skillfully into one another to produce an impressively hypnotic intensity. 

And then before you know it its over.  Not even 10 minutes of music and then it’s gone, which is the only fault of this whole release.  Hopefully this 7” will act as simply a proper introduction to a wonderfully additional to the multi-faceted word of post-rock by a band that are surly destined to set the genre ablaze!
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There’s the melancholy of Sigur Ros in the layered piano that whispers along like it's been played on a remote island and the sound is just drifting into earshot. Beguiling with multiple uses of bleeps and weird effects switches, it gives it an icy feel but also one that you can snuggle up warm to.
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A soporific, floating piano melody peeks through, peeling away layers note by note, chord by chord, to reveal ranks and echelons of crevasses, weaving in and out of a soothing and seraphic musical density. Instrumentals build and breakdown embrace one another with fluid correspondence, seamless and effortless. ‘Yuki’ unfolds to flood the sonic space with heavy-hearted distance and pulsates with flourishing spirit. This atmospheric dreamscape glides with whimsical cloud-like features, with instrumental peaks and bellows with modest vocals, seemingly batting gently behind veils of void. I can never confidently clear the precise wording, the works of guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist Tom Evans and guitarist/vocalist/keyboards/producer Lee J. Malcolm match the musical vibrations, contributing to what develops like a pristine and intricate mechanical operation, but still benignly organic and satisfyingly triumphant.  

In charge of drums/beats, Tim Mitchell’s work genuinely shines in ‘Forever the Optimist.’ Martin Teff, bass/guitar/synth, additionally excels in the second track, igniting an anchor-like foundation that comfortably releases the tune into flight. A percussive explosion, an obsessive line of cries and careful harmonies, it whirls like a wary heat of haze, a smoky state of phantasmagoria. In force to stew a slow build, it climaxes to exhale with ease without crashing and burning. Vessels’ brand of post-rock ascends with weightless directness as ‘Yuki/Forever the Optimist’ embodies a winning openness of vivid character that truly glows.

Rhyannon Rodriguez
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Now that a full generation of young musicians has absorbed the beauty and scale of Montreal, Iceland and outlying parts of Scotland, Chicago and Texas, there’s a scramble on to make epic guitar music into something that can stir a response from an excited, wider and wiser music audience. Contenders are multiplying but it’s only very recently that I’ve been convinced. iLIKETRAiNS for one have successfully managed the appropriation to make their new history folksongs into something fresh and exciting.

And here are VESSELS, with more rock in their roots, but with the same yearning for something more nourishing, dynamic and euphoric. Their first demo EP was very promising. This single really delivers the goods.

”Yuki” is a modestly brief four minutes 42. It’s built around a three bar piano phrase of considerable beauty. The development glances over a shoulder at post-OK Computer RADIOHEAD, with some aching vocal, a glitchy ruffle or two in the rhythm track and some very careful, very accomplished slow crescendo-building. That piano phrase is still there at the end though and we seem to have hardly started when it’s all over and fading into the cold night of longing. This is successful hypnosis. We want to hear it again.
	
“Forever The Optimist”, adventuring a little further into five minutes 29, has a touch of TORTOISE in there, and things drive along with more urgency. Two voices (Tom Evans and Lee J. Malcolm) share the focus, coming in from different angles to set up an interesting tension. A bigger drum kit sound is very welcome (Tim Mitchell) and things start to get beautifully loud as Martin Teff wades in with bass and extra guitar. VESSELS have really cracked the quiet bit loud bit problem, so that (like a symphonic work), the changes come naturally, expressively and bang on time.

This is accessible, exciting music. The reaction VESSELS got at last Summer’s Carling Leeds Festival showed their huge potential for crowd pleasing with serious music. A recent tour, Radio One exposure and this debut single announce their full arrival as contenders.
 	  author: Sam Saunders
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