Vheissu (pronounced "vee-sue") is the fourth studio album by American rock band Thrice. Released on October 18, 2005, through Island Records, the album spawned one charting single, "Image of the Invisible", which peaked at No. 24 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart. Vheissu has received favorable reviews from music critics. It was the band's second release on a major label, following The Artist in the Ambulance (2003).
Background Following the release of The Illusion of Safety in 2002, the group were the subject of a major-label bidding war. They eventually signed to Island Records, who released The Artist in the Ambulance in 2003, which peaked at number 16 on the United States Billboard 200 chart. Two of its singles, "All That's Left" and "Stare at the Sun", appeared on the Alternative Songs radio chart. The band promoted the album's release with performances at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in the United Kingdom and a supporting slot for Rancid and Alkaline Trio on their mainland European tour. Thrice toured the UK and went on a North American tour with Thursday and Coheed and Cambria.
Vocalist and guitarist Dustin Kensrue said the band were aiming to move away from their roots musically with their next release, stating that guitarist Teppei Teranishi was learning how to play piano. In January 2004, the majority of staff at Island Records shifted to working at Warner Bros. Records. Despite this, A&R member Robert Stevenson continued working with the band, who liked the new people at Island. Bassist Eddie Breckenridge said by March 2004 that they had a number of ideas, but did not have a fully completed song. The group became exhausted from all the touring engagements, and took a month-long break in July 2004. Thrice had supported Dashboard Confessional on the Honda Civic Tour two months prior; it was during this time, they started discussing what to do for their next album.
Writing During the break, the members used this time to write material and experiment with music. Drummer Riley Breckenridge said Brian McTernan, who had produced The Artist in the Ambulance, told the band to start writing as soon as they had finished recording that album. The band told the label that they felt rushed making it, and needed more time to write for its follow-up. Following the break, the group spent eight-to-nine months in a home studio that they had built at Teranishi's house. A lot of the demos they had recorded were melodic, piano-focused songs, a change from their earlier hardcore punk/metal-influenced material. The band were aware they were coming up with slower-tempo material, but were oblivious as to how slow until the label and their management told them to re-think what they were doing.
By December 2004, they had stockpiled 25 songs, which would later be whittled down to 20. At the start of 2005, the band were coming towards the end of their writing process. By February 2005, the group were looking for a producer. They purposely did not want to work with McTernan again, nor did they want a popular producer either. Eddie Breckenridge said that after working on the band's previous two albums, as well as with Strike Anywhere on their releases, McTernan had an idea of how the band should sound. Kensrue said they wanted someone who lacked a formula when producing heavier rock music. In addition, eight of the 20 songs had been incorporated into the group's live shows. Stop-gap release If We Could Only See Us Now, which featured outtakes and live recordings, appeared in March 2005.Sharpe-Young 2005, p. 330 Breckenridge was unsure about the project, but the label and Kensrue were positive about it.
Recording Thrice was put in contact with Howard Benson, known for his work with Hoobastank and My Chemical Romance, and had a meeting with him. Riley Breckenridge said it was an uncomfortable situation; the band were trying to tell him what they wanted to experiment with in a studio, and Benson's response was to tell them about his success with rock ballads. Eddie Breckenridge proposed toying with microphone placements, to which Benson was dismissive. The band went back to the label to have a meeting in New York City, which Riley Breckenridge felt was "disconnected", and having to justify their place on the label roster. Pre-production was done over a few days in mid-March 2005 with producer Steve Osborne. Breckenridge said they chose him because of his work with Doves and Placebo. The band wanted a new perspective on the song writing process from Osborne, whose past credits include many British rock and electronic hits. Osborne had not heard of the group or had any interest in the group's music scene prior to the sessions.
Osborne returned to the UK; the band, meanwhile, went to New York City to promote If We Could Only See Us Now. In April 2005, Osborne went back to the US for more pre-production with the band. Recording took place with Osborne at Bearsville Studios in Bearsville, New York, between April 18 and June 20, 2005. Breckenridge said that the studio was "so secluded and so cut off from everything ... and it was really cool" to have a break from the distractions of their home lives. Breckenridge said the recording process was about "getting a collective feel" of the group and retaining their "live energy". According to Kensrue, the group hoped Osborne's "strength with mellower stuff" would aid them "explore that side of our music a little more." The band had ideas for the atmospheric sound they wanted, which Osborne helped achieve. He knew how to get this sound using vintage pedals and tape delay machines. Breckenridge said Osborne's approach was focused on rhythm and subdued grooves. The group took a brief break from the studio in late April 2005 to play The Bamboozle and Coachella festivals. Dave Schiffman was the main engineer for the sessions with assistance from Chris Laidlow and Jeff Gehlert. The recordings were mixed by Sean Beavan at The Pass Studios in Los Angeles, California with assistant engineer Zephyrus Sowers in August 2005. The band members attended the mixing in person, traveling two-to-three hours to the city. The songs were then mastered by Brian Gardner at Bernie Grundman Mastering in Los Angeles.
Composition and lyrics Themes and music Vheissu is a song cycle revolving around the themes of optimism and hope, despite continuous darkness. During early discussions for the album, the members were talking about potential concepts, eventually arriving on the subject of the ocean. Eddie Breckenridge thought it was appropriate as the material they were writing leaned "a lot more towards dreamy and atmospheric", while Kensrue wished to have the lyrics in that vein. Though in the end, the majority of the songs on the final album did not involve the ocean directly, "but [...] a lot of that kind of ended up seeping into what we did". Almost half of the record features direct quotations from the Bible, which Breckenridge attributed to Kensrue reading the works of C. S. Lewis, who also used heavy amounts of religious imagery in his writing. It was a shift away from the mythological imagery employed on The Artist in the Ambulance. Some direct comparisons were made to Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia (1950) and Mere Christianity (1952), as well as the Book of Revelation.
The main influences on the album include Danny Elfman, Miles Davis, Isis, Hot Snakes, No Knife, Pixies, Jimmy Smith, and Thelonious Monk. The record is characterized as being a rather experimental deviation from Thrice's post-hardcore roots, with the implementation of elements such as piano melodies ("For Miles") and electronica ("Red Sky"). Parts of it recalled the post-hardcore stylings of At the Drive-In and Fugazi,Michel 2005 p. 107 with Radiohead-esque atmospheric transitions, and guitarwork in the vein of Denali. Breckenridge said the "dreamy feels and the atmospheric qualities" of the album were inspired by Talk Talk, specifically their albums Spirit of Eden (1988) and Laughing Stock (1991) Some of the tracks have mid-tempo arrangements with the loud/quiet dynamic of Thursday and Deftones, and brooding mood of the Cure. They spent eight to nine months in total writing for the album, with many of the songs being done on the European tour in support of The Artist in the Ambulance. Thrice used the program Reason to come up with new ideas. Upon returning home, they expanded upon these snippets. They ultimately re-made many of the parts they came up with, with the exception of one, which became the drum intro to "Stand and Feel Your Worth".
Kensrue made a conscious effort to scream less during the tracks, doing so only when he felt singing wouldn't convey the feeling as intended. Riley Breckenridge said they incorporated the use of various keyboard and synthesizer instrumentation. He added that they were "work[ing] on the dynamic between a really mellow part and a really heavy part." For some of the programmed sections, the band had Breckenridge re-work and edit them into loops, which Kensure said would make them "not as stale" sounding. Despite the album's heavy sound, the members no longer listened to music in that vein. They dove deeply into the final two albums from Talk Talk, and a substantial amount of Radiohead. Over the previous years, the members had been expanding their musical tastes: Riley Breckenridge with electronic artists such as Squarepusher and Aphex Twin, Teranishi and Eddie Breckenridge getting into jazz, Eddie Breckenridge exploring "less straight hardcore" acts like Botch and Isis as well as ambient music, and Kensrue listening to Tom Waits. As all of the members contribute music, the parts are influenced by different forms of music. Riley Breckenridge said it was a "really cool challenge" trying to make these separate parts into cohesive pieces of music.
Tracks "Image of the Invisible" features Morse code, which spells out the album's title, done by Kensrue. Breckenridge said the song was written before they had the idea of adding Morse code. After looking into incorporating it with programming, they found out it had "a really cool syncopation with the beat" in the song. The track is led by gang vocal, in the style of Comeback Kid, which are heard throughout it. Though the track continued to the sound of The Artist in the Ambulance, it was compared to an Ian MacKaye-fronted Linkin Park. "Between the End and Where We Lie" sees Kensrue toy with programming, Teranishi with a Rhodes piano and Eddie Breckenridge with a synthesizer. The song grew out of keyboard parts that Kensrue wrote on a Casio, which he had since he was two years old, giving it the working title "Casio". For the track, Riley Breckenridge said he employed a method that Dave Grohl had done with his bands Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age where he would play the drum kit without hitting the cymbals. Breckenridge would strictly play the kick and snare, while cymbals were then latter overdubbed; this was done to minimize the bleed between the kit pieces. The chorus chord progression was taken from an untitled piano outtake from The Artist in the Ambulance sessions.