
- 1. Mean Streak
- 2. Later in Life Lift
- 3. Blowing Cave
- 4. Break The Empress Crown
- 5. Nothing Left To Bury
- 6. Mandan Dink
- 7. Tidy Nervous Breakdown
- 8. Snow Don't Fall
- 9. Deep in the Horchata
- 10. White Mole
Tracklist
Stay Close
Label: Other
Catalog #: RS-NE137
What lends Death Vessel’s “Stay Close” its unique charm is Joel Thibodeau’s voice. He sings in a high register with a clear tone that’s beautifully sustained, but with an underlying inquisitiveness that’s distinctly childlike. Too pure and focused to run afoul of the Newsom/Banhart haters, it’s nevertheless an extraordinarily odd male voice. And Thibodeau plays to its strengths, wrapping it around fancy alliterations and using it to blow the dust off of quasi-historical bric-a-brac. Like most of the best folk tunes, few of these tracks make a lick of narrative sense. Thibodeau sings angelically about carcass racks and harpoons, pinking shears and burdock spurs, coining adverbs like “pelicanly” and “sans serif-ly” as he zips along. The places where Laura and Meg Baird (of Espers) offer harmony are especially nice treats.