Death Vessel - Nothing is Precious Enough For Us

Nothing is Precious Enough For Us (2008, Sub Pop) Death Vessel's second studio album. ***1/2

Probably the most shocking thing I discovered about Death Vessel was that the singer, Joel Thibodeau, is, well... a guy. Upon my first listen to Nothing is Precious Enough For Us, I didn't for any moment doubt that the singer was a woman with a decent voice. It wasn't until I did a little research that I found that Thibodeau had quite a... unique falsetto.

The style is a very laid-back folk approach, as refreshing as Iron & Wine was when he first came about. But unlike Iron & Wine or Bon Iver, Death Vessel has a much more uppity feel to it. While there are slow moments, Nothing is Precious Enough For Us can be bouncy on numbers like the bluegrass "Obadiah in Oblivion." And Thibodeau proves to be a great composer on some of the album's earlier moments, most notably the dreamy "Block My Eye," or the innocent child-like tune "Jitterakadie." It's all relatively simple stuff, never diving into the strange studio sounds that The Shepherd's Dog has. It's about as raw as raw can get, and that's a mixed blessing, because while Death Vessel has the sincerity of his folk peers, the production values aren't as clear as an album like Fleet Foxes, which manages to both be organic and ear-friendly. Sadly, a collection of exceptional tunes is brought down a tad by hiss-tape-like production.