Nothing Is Precious Enough for Us [Slimline] (CD - 2008)

After startling both the indie rock and folk communities with 2005's STAY CLOSE, Joel Thibodeau, aka Death Vessel, toured relentlessly, got snatched up by Sub Pop, regrouped, and wrote an expansive set of folk-rockers called NOTHING IS PRECIOUS ENOUGH FOR US. Recorded in New Jersey with the Figgs' Pete Donnelly as producer, this sophomore outing takes Thibodeau's off-kilter approach to songwriting and wraps it in equally strange and loose arrangements. Both "Exploded View" and "Peninsula" erupt into gloriously messy electric guitar squawls while on "Belt of Foam" and elsewhere jazzy horn charts and banjo frails fill in the gaps. NOTHING IS PRECIOUS ENOUGH FOR US is hardly overproduced, however, and Donnelly honors the haunted gentility at the heart of Death Vessel's vision. And that voice! As powerful, high, and clear as early '70s Neil Young, Thibodeau has one of the most indelible in millenial music, and on this sterling long-player it is still the star of the show. minimize