Death Vessel

Death Vessel is the brainchild of Brooklyn-based experimental folk artist Joel Thibodeau, the likes of whom we've heard from before. With a penchant for hushed electronic atmospherics serving as a backdrop to well-written, largely minimalist guitar melodies and earnest vocals, Thibodeau possesses a soprano singing voice that lends his introspective...

By Tom Murphy

May 21, 2009

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Death Vessel is the brainchild of Brooklyn-based experimental folk artist Joel Thibodeau, the likes of whom we've heard from before. With a penchant for hushed electronic atmospherics serving as a backdrop to well-written, largely minimalist guitar melodies and earnest vocals, Thibodeau possesses a soprano singing voice that lends his introspective lyrics an air of the otherworldly in the context of the richly dynamic music surrounding it. Fans of like-minded bands such as Iron and Wine and Shearwater will appreciate Death Vessel's attention to musical shading with finely orchestrated moments of dark and light. Even though the music is written from a modern perspective, its traditional folk arrangements and instrumentation transport you to a place out of time where the banjo can carry a melody and not serve as largely a rustic affectation.

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Tom Murphy is a writer, visual artist and musician from Aurora, Colorado. He was a prolific music writer for Westword and a documenter of the Denver music scene.

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