Twenty One Pilots' 'Vessel' nails the leap from indie to major and could, perhaps should, see them clambering to the upper reaches of album charts all over the place.
Comprising drummer Josh Dun and multi-instrumentalist Tyler Joseph, the band come off like a cordial exchange between Flobots and Panic! At The Disco, with lilting piano pop overlaid with the odd rock screech and nasal rap verses.
They've found a fitting home at Fueled By Ramen, home to Paramore, Gym Class Heroes and Fun. among others, and could soon be an act on which the label pins a fair share of its hopes.
'Vessel' certainly has all the hallmarks of a sleeper success, and is getting a new lease of life from a UK release a number of months after it first landed across the pond.
Like many albums before it, and doubtless many to come, its tracklist does take something of a beating at the hands of its lead single though. With Holding On To You the band successfully distil their crossover appeal, with its off-kilter chorus melody one of a number of earworm-worthy moments in its four-and-a-bit minutes.
Album opener Ode To Sleep and the vocoder-led Migraine fall just short of the same level, but House Of Gold and Semi-Automatic are just a little twee and float by when they should be following up the dent made by the record's opening salvo.
There's enough variety in the closing stages to keep things interesting, if a little safe, with the jaunty Guns For Hands a nice counterpoint to the solemn closer, Truce, on which Joseph intones: “Stay alive, stay alive for me.”
There's precious little new ground broken here, but what Twenty One Pilots do, they do well. When coupled with their head-turning live show, 'Vessel' could be the basis of something much bigger.
Mon February 17th 2014 - BRIGHTON Haunt
Tue February 18th 2014 - OXFORD O2 Academy2 Oxford
Wed February 19th 2014 - BIRMINGHAM Library, The Institute
Fri February 21st 2014 - MANCHESTER Manchester Academy 3
Sat February 22nd 2014 - LEEDS Cockpit
Sun February 23rd 2014 - GLASGOW King Tuts Wah Wah Hut
Tue February 25th 2014 - BRISTOL Thekla
Wed February 26th 2014 - PORTSMOUTH Wedgewood Rooms
Thu February 27th 2014 - LONDON Heaven
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