Death Vessel - Stay Close (ATP)
3/5
By: Charlie Potter
ATP Recordings have released one of the best albums so far this year, but unfortunately it's not this one. The real issue to be had with 'Stay Close', the thing which takes a really long time to get over, is that horrible, strained, almost flat vocal - an overly worthy, try-hard sound that is in no way backed up by the vigour or the subject of this music. I can happily deal with charmingly flat vocal delivery, like that of the Moldy Peaches or early Graham Coxon records, or even the fantastically aimless vocal delivery of the Meat Puppets (people on acid are so funny sometimes). It may be that this is what they're aiming for, but the last thing this vocal delivery is, is charming - there's just no humour to it. Of course, you get used to it eventually, but the question is (and I'm being perhaps too brutal here) - is it worth it?
At times this recording manages to be very soft and light, evoking memories of campfires, particularly on songs such as 'Break the Empress Crown' with its long drawn out land/soundscapes of glowing keyboard tones. There's a real beauty in its sensitivity. Not only are the songs at times ones of campfire-worthy magic, but each track definitely has its own personality and distinct hooks. Yet because each song tends to fall back on a more tried and tested acoustic sound it takes a while for some tracks to really show themselves for what they are.
'Deep in the Horchata' is undoubtedly the shining jewel in this album, and it's largely thanks to the end of that vocal waubling, the singer now confidently sticking to melodies which are much more up beat and supplying a chorus of 'wahoo oo's which are genuinely uplifting, touching, and again, sound like a campfire on a beach in the summer with old friends. It leads very well in to closer 'White Mole' which is another song that I would go as far as saying is a proper good one, as although it takes a turn for the more downbeat, it works remarkably well as a closer.
Listening to it for what I hope to be the last time before the review is completed (just to keep you up to date as to my mindset here), I find it reassuring that I'm actually a little bored of it. A lot of the time when critiquing records, you listen to them over and over again until you cannot help but love them, sometimes to the point that you cannot work out whether you enjoy it because of its true merit or just because you're more used to hearing than not hearing it. However, this album has certainly run its course for me - it took me a while to get in to it, then I started to enjoy a few of the tracks, but now the opening bars make me feel depressed and tied down. I'm looking forward to giving it a rest, and will hear it with fresh ears in a couple of months or so - a moment I greatly anticipate.
Stream two tracks from 'Stay Close' HERE.
Artists in this article: Death Vessel
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