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9 January 2009, Jessica @ 7:00 pm

A lot of post-rock music could be said to be crafted by mediocre artists who try to pull off sounding amazing with merely simple tunes any beginner musician could perfect. I might have fallen prey to this type, since I am not really a (good) musician myself. Though in post-rock, it’s hard to distinguish the good from the bad (or the talented from the (for lack of a better word) incapacitated) because the fundamentals of post-rock are just too narrowed in. A lot of newer bands get shit for being too mainstreamed in an already washed-out genre. So it becomes even more difficult to break through the industry, since reviews are probably a lot more critical and less lenient. I’ve been victim to writing such reviews, truth be told.

Once in awhile, though, I get introduced to a fairly new post-rock band that has recently released a debut album and I am just amazed at how good it is. It goes without saying that debut albums always seem to be really good, no matter what genre, but this one really kicks it up a notch. Vessels‘ debut album, White Fields and Open Devices would have definitely been a contender for my Top Post-Rock Albums of 2008, had I been introduced to them earlier! But better late than never, I suppose. The Vessels hail from the UK, releasing their highly-rated record in the summer of 2008. It has been getting raving reviews from all over the web, and rightly so. With a quick listen, it may sound totally generic with influences from post-rock legends Explosions in the Sky, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Mogwai, and 65daysofstatic, but it captures a new “zing” from overused sounds and dynamics. Yeah, it might be a typical post-rock album, but there is just something there that makes it all the more different, and thus ranked as one of the better typical records.

What is exactly is this “zing” I mention? It’s hard to explain. You can’t really pinpoint its exact characteristic, so perhaps the zing is in the merging of all characteristics of the album–an excellently composed, produced, and thought-out album. The instrumentation is intricate–even the simplest melody can sound awe-inspiring, blended with the rest of the band. “Walking Through Walls” features acoustic guitars singing heartfelt melodies to each other, with an overlay of equally heartfelt, harmonized vocals. Occasionally, you can hear a twinkle of the piano, but it’s easy to see that it isn’t just arbitrarily placed in the repertoire. And then there are the inspirations that congregate–classical, electronic, folk, math rock. I think that’s what makes the album take the cake. It doesn’t try to replicate sound, but rather diversifies it. It’s a safe move, too; it stays steady in the stream of what we know as post-rock, and just changes the definition slightly as to not jump on dangerous waters.

And by this point you might be thinking–where’s the consistency? You’ll hear it. Or maybe you won’t, since every single sound on this album has been intricately designed so that everything blends together without your conscious knowing. That’s right–each track is just a continuation of the last. “Yuki” opens with what “Look at that Cloud!” ends, slowly engaging you with the soft piano and vocals, leading you into a more electronic-based tone, slowly but surely. Before you hear the full blast of electronic beats, Vessels will make sure to saturate you first with a folkish melody of the acoustic guitar. It may sound like an amalgamation of just arbitrary sounds–and maybe it is–but it sounds like the work of a genius. Or in this case, the work of five geniuses.

White Fields and Open Devices is reminiscent of the post-rock that dazzled everyone in the ’90s, with a new zing to it that even the most stubborn of post-rock fans can appreciate. For those who remain skeptical, I urge you to check out the MP3s and the video of “A Hundred Times in Every Direction.” Superbly made with slow-mo to engage your senses.

Vessels – A Hundred Times in Every Direction from LEFT EYE BLIND on Vimeo.