The Sopranos
Joel Thibodeau sings like a girl. I say this not as some tawdry schoolyard taunt, but merely as an evocative descriptive. The fingerpicking songsmith from Brooklyn has a high, keening voice that naturally pitches at feminine levels. Sitting an unexpecting listener down to a blind taste-test of either of Thibodeau’s albums under the unlikely handle Death Vessel —2005’s Stay Close, or 2008’s freshly-minted Nothing is Precious Enough for Us— could easily have them misidentifying the gender of the singer.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Thibodeau’s voice may make for some initial gender-confusion, but he is certainly not some novelty act, or, worse, a drag-queen stridently squealing in a pantomime of the worst aspects of femininity. Thibodeau is a gifted songsmith, whose gentle, folk-tinged music is carried with a gentle sensibility.
Nothing Can Be Cheapened
After Stay Close was steeped in Appalachian folk-music, on his second album —and first for Seattle’s long-running Sub Pop Records— Thibodeau points his Death Vessel at a slightly different tack. Nothing is Precious Enough for Us finds the songsmith coloring his compositions with a slightly less ‘rootsy’ palette. Banjo, so prominent on his first record, is now used sparingly; there plenty of electric-guitar, piano, and synthesizer brought in in its place.
At times, this quite transforms what Death Vessel are, essentially. “Peninsula” tiptoes through sombre, barely-there pluckings of electric guitar, before exploding into a squall of psychedelic guitars at close. “The Widening,” with its saloon bar piano and muted cornet, swaggers with a Dixie-ish strut, evoking a boardwalk-treading sepia nostalgia far from Thibodeau’s pastoral musical roots.
My Tidy Breakdown
Whilst the record lacks anything as ridiculously enjoyable as Stay Close’s “Mandan Dink,” (although, confessedly, the pseudo-title-track, “Obadiah in Oblivion,” does stir up a none-too-dissimilar spirit), it has the feeling of a more ‘accomplished’ record. The larger, more tasteful arrangements play into notions of ‘growth,’ and the record’s turn away from Thibodeau’s voice, towards his songwriting, could bring Death Vessel a new audience.
Of course, whilst Nothing is Precious Enough for Us can certainly be seen as furthering Thibodeau’s musical range, what it really comes down to is his vocal range. Thibodeau’s voice is so singular that it should be the showcase of any record its on, and too often this disc seems to shy away from that.
Record Label: Sub Pop
Release Date: 19 August 2008
