By: Daniela Patrizi
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Released on March 2, 2015 via Bias
When I heard that Vessels were about to release a new album I bookmarked the date: four years after Helioscope, the Leeds-based band is back with a complete new skin that is made of more physical electronic rhythms. With Dilate, which will be released on 2nd of March through Bias, a new imprint of The Leaf Label, the quintet have abandoned the warm sound of songs like ‘Meatman, Piano Tuner, Prostitute’ – just to mention one of my favourite songs from them – and moved towards the euphoric world of the dance floor. A complete transformation then, resulting in a bold, brilliant and beautiful album. Diving into the album head-first confirms all confidence in quality and atmospheric bliss the band has been delivering since their debut about seven, eight years ago.
From the opening moment of ‘Vertical’ we hear the door unlocking on the Vessels’s studio and a pursuing rhythm enters, marking the start of a striking evolution in the band’s sound. They inject a refined balance of soul-warming themes between the downtempo and coarse beats. The result is both heartfelt and dynamic. Throughout the album listeners can feel the emotional presence that few artists are able to achieve at the same level.
The trip continues with the chilling atmospherics of ‘Elliptic’, the longest track of the album, whose engine is the band’s command of rhythm. I particularly like ‘As You are’, which incorporates a visceral rhythm section with dreamy, swooning synth pads. Here the band combine sweet, almost sentimental motifs with a more a dancefloor sound and this combination of grit and tenderness makes this track so powerful. ‘Elliptic’ dissolves in ‘Echo In’, which provides a moment of reflection to the listeners that will find themselves away from the floor beat but without interrupting the mood of the album.
The following ‘Attica’, ‘On Monos’, ‘Glass Lake’ and ‘On Your Own Ten Toes’ run on the same path of the first half of the album with the same collision of rhythms and melodies that feel as though they could crack at any point. In practice they do crack in that moment of serenity that’s the first half of ‘On Monos’ when the album shines for the bell tones and the disembodied female vocal echoing throughout the song.
Dilate is an album that involves you from the very first note with its lush and warm melodies and that will keep you constantly on the move to the point that you’ll easily find yourself dancing its rhythm even once the album is ended.
At less than hour in length, Dilate is a journey that pleases every moment, and that should be experienced and revisited regularly knowing that some landmarks can easily emerge each and every time and invite you right back for more.
