Dear Friend, although this is the group’s third commercial album. I will be skipping the second for now for the time being and circling back to it. Mostly because I’m listening on Spotify but mainly because Vessel contains most of the album that I am skipping (Regional at Best). Again I will go back to this album, hand picking the unincluded but they will not make the playlist on Spotify as they are not listed on the platform.

Let’s start with the facts. Vessel is the group’s third album and major label debut under Fueled by Ramen and released on 1/8/13.

Vessel is a spiritual successor to Regional at Best. Joseph unsure if he would ever get to complete the songs was able to finish them properly on Vessel. Joseph would later say “I… view Vessel as our first record” in a 2023 livestream.

Shown above is the now duos paternal grandfathers.

Now for what I liked.

I previously knew the songs House of Gold, Car Radio, Semi-Automatic, Fake You Out and Guns for Hands

Yet again the tone for the album is achieved perfectly with the opener Ode to Sleep.

I love the emotion from Car Radio and I’m starting a YELL COUNTER. I love yells in songs and the emotion that they bring. So DING! YELL ONE! The song is also incredibly literal and Joseph explains that each person should sit in silence every once and a while to process things properly. The song being literal because Joseph describes himself as a very emotional dude and it helped him process things. House of Gold is heavily inspired by his mom, and is a constant inspiration to the artist.

Joseph explains that “A message, is like a ripple in the water.” It reverberates and comes back to him.

A helpful part of a the research process was the commentary album that accompanies it. The above quote is from that experience. I wish more bands did stuff like that. In it Joseph explains song names and musical structure. In it he explains that he found the ukulele for House of Gold and songs of the album featuring the instrument was found at a musical thrift store and he taught himself to play it in a manner of days. In that same track he explained that he didn’t want to become the “ukulele guy”.

The band expresses in the commentary track that the band is primarily a live band. The best way to experience them is live. The album is structured the way they play it live. Ode to Sleep is generally there opener and Trees and Guns for Hands are generally there later songs or closers.

My top five would definitely be Semi-Automatic, Car Radio, Guns for Hands, Fake You Out and House of Gold.

As the first ‘real’ album from Twenty One Pilots, I would recommend this highly. Soon the Spotify Sessions, which will not feature an article but will elicit an Instagram post. They will be added to the playlist, should I like them. Then after that the mainstream success Blurryface.

https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/2ZfgtVZVMjQKoyUw3fnHr5?utm_source=generator

Dear Friend, you will be alright.