Hailing from Charlotte, NC, Sinai Vessel is the brain child of Caleb Cordes. Through Sinai Vessel, Caleb collaborates with a rotating line up of other artists to craft what he’s deemed “punk for sissies”. When trying to pin down a style or genre that Sinai Vessel falls into, Caleb really has hit the nail on the head with his moniker. The band’s first release in 2011, labor pains, combined sing-songy, earnest, and emotional lyrics much in the vein of Dashboard Confessional with a restrained take on instrumentals that struck a middle ground between the punk and dark-pop resembling a mixture of bands like Braid and I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness. After two years of further development, Sinai Vessel has returned with a new release, profanity.

The evolution that Sinai Vessel has gone through in those two years is apparent from the opening track of profanity. While labor pains exhibited a style that leaned more towards the pop end of the spectrum with its cleaner vocals and more melodic instrumentals, profanity shifts towards the punk end of the spectrum, with Caleb displaying a distinctly more rough and raw vocal style. In terms of the overall feel of the two albums, labor pains can be most easily described as a haunting introspection while profanity seems to be more of a frustrated introspection.

The change in style between the two releases is evident from the first track of the EP, “Cats”, and holds constant throughout. On “Cats”, Caleb introduces us to Sinai Vessel’s new direction while still belting out hyper-literary, emotional lyrics like the song’s closing line “You’re a five-word liar’s chorus: “You mean everything to me”.” The EP’s next track, “Cuckold”, further showcases the new, frustration laden, reflective lyrical style with lines like “I wanna grow cold with the bushes, stand still like the trees; I don’t need your love, I just need them to love me.” Following “Cuckold” comes “Drown Around” in which we see hints of the band’s older, more melodic vocal style which quickly gives weigh to the more raw vocals displayed earlier. The rest of the EP very much follows in the same suite as the first two tracks of EP, teeming with both angst and hints of melancholy. While the feel of the remaining tracks are similar, each track is thoroughly enjoyable and the lyrical content is certain to require a few play-throughs in order to fully appreciate, as is especially evident in “Flannery”.

Overall, profanity is definitely a surprise out of left field for me. Two songs in on my first listen through, and I found that I was hooked. While I enjoyed Sinai Vessel’s older material (which I was introduced to after my initial play through of profanity), the new direction the band has taken is certainly a welcome one in my book. The serially rotating roster of musicians that Caleb is bound to incorporate into the band will hopefully keep future releases sounding fresh while the overall thematic elements of the lyrics remain the same. Be sure to check out Sinai Vessel’s BandCamp page for both profanity and some of their older releases as well. Also, be sure to keep an eye on Sinai Vessel’s band page and Facebook page in order to stay up to date on tour dates which appear to be coming up in January.

– December 4th, 2013 – Peterson Worrell

Sanai Vessel – Live

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