Vessel
The project of Bristol, England's Seb Gainsborough, Vessel expands on his hometown's legacy of pioneering producers by constantly challenging himself. On his early EPs and 2012's full-length Order of Noise, Gainsborough reconfigured elements of techno, house, garage, dubstep, ambient, and industrial, and introduced the tilted beats and warped melodies that became hallmarks of his music. Even as Vessel grew more conceptual on 2014's Punish, Honey, which featured handmade acoustic instruments, and 2018's Queen of Golden Dogs, which experimented with early music and Baroque influences, an almost tactile quality defined Gainsborough's music as much as his ambition and need for reinvention.
Born and raised in Bristol, Gainsborough started going to dance clubs as a teen and making his own music after a friend gave him recording software. Not long after, he became a part of the city's large and diverse Young Echo collective, which also includes El Kid, Khan, Manonmars, and Jabu among its members. Vessel officially debuted in 2011 with the Nylon Sunset single on Throwing Snow's esteemed Left Blank label and a limited-edition cassette release on Rekordah's Astro-Dynamics. Gainsborough's eclectic yet distinctive sound earned the attention of Tri Angle Records, which signed Vessel in early 2012. As he worked on his first album, he also released the Standard EP via Left Blank. Late that year, his debut full-length, Order of Noise, arrived, drawing praise for how deftly Gainsborough challenged techno's stylistic conventions. On the following year's Misery Is a Communicable Disease EP, which was issued by Mute's Liberation Technologies imprint, Vessel continued to bend the rules by adding industrial influences and warped tape melodies to his techno foundations.
For Vessel's second album, Gainsborough went even further afield. With help from his father, he spent months making a harmonic guitar, flute, and various guitars that he incorporated into his tracks alongside sheets of metal and experimental electronics. The results were 2014's Punish, Honey, which delivered some of his most challenging and organic-sounding music to date. That year, Gainsborough collaborated with Immix, a Liverpool-based new music group led by Australian composer and saxophonist Daniel Thorne. With their work Transition, they explored the development of instruments such as the trumpet and oboe and contrasted it with cutting-edge 21st century electronics. Following performances at Tate Britain and the University of Liverpool, Transition was recorded and released on Erased Tapes in 2016. Gainsborough took the work's intertwining of classical and electronic elements to greater heights on Vessel's third album Queen of Golden Dogs. Created during an 18-month span where he isolated himself in rural Wales, the album also featured vocals from Offa Rex's Olivia Chaney and drew on influences including surrealist painter Remedios Varo and writers ranging from Dante to Maggie Nelson. Gainsborough then worked with violinist Rakhi Singh on a piece that premiered in 2019.
© Heather Phares /TiVo
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LOST
Alternative & Indie - Released by 2627023 Records DK on 11 Nov 2022
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Friday Drive
Alternative & Indie - Released by Last Libretto on 27 Aug 2013
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You are MENTAL.
Alternative & Indie - Released by Vessel Records on 28 Feb 2020
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Midnight Strike
Metal - Released by Golden Robot Records on 4 Dec 2022
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LOCKED & LOADED
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by 2627023 Records DK on 24 Jun 2022
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CURB STOMP
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by 2627023 Records DK on 29 May 2022
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LOST TIME
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by 2627023 Records DK on 15 Jul 2022
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PHONK DESTRUCTION
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by 2627023 Records DK on 24 Apr 2022
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CEMETARY
Alternative & Indie - Released by Vessel Records on 1 Oct 2019
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my focus is you
Dance - Released by 1386652 Records DK on 26 Jun 2023
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IDENTITY CRISIS
Alternative & Indie - Released by Vessel Records on 14 Dec 2019
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Keep Running
Rock - Released by Golden Robot Records on 1 Jun 2021
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Doing It Big
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by C-Mac Productions & Rock and Stay Records on 1 Jan 2024
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The Battle Begins
Rock - Released by Night Before Christmas Publishing on 18 Sep 2011
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Shape of the Devil
Metal - Released by Golden Robot Records on 2 May 2021
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Telephone
Punk / New Wave - Released by Double Phantom on 11 Apr 2023
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Violent?
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by That Protest Music on 17 Jun 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo