Death Vessel is the alias of current Brooklyn resident (by way of all over the place) Joel Thibodeau. The absolute centerpiece of any Death Vessel song is Thibodeau's soaring soprano. No, not his tenor. His soprano. The guy sings so high even Jeff Hanson (he had his moment), Devendra Banhart, or the singer dude in Lukestar would go "Yow!" For awhile into my first listen, I thought Death Vessel was an unreleased Joanna Newsom song. That's pretty high.

Death Vessel sets his unique vocals against a mostly bluegrass backdrop, with some finger-picking folk and country-pop mixed in. Overall, it's pretty happy if haunting stuff. Thibodeau plays all the primary guitars, but he gets lots of help from a revolving cast of musicians when he's in need of mandolins, ukeleles, banjos, violas, and well, lots of other instruments.

Sub Pop is putting out his album in August of 2008 and because of that he's touring up a storm, recently with Iron & Wine, Jose Gonzalez and St. Vincent. If you're in the right mood for laid-back reflection, this is the man for you.

BUY TICKETS TO SEE DEATH VESSEL AT SPACELAND!

Death Vessel plays Spaceland, on Sunday, September 7th.