Golden Vessel: Slowshine | 4ZZZ Brisbane 102.1FM

- Maybe it’s the easygoing warmth that Golden Vessel exudes, which attracts the long line of collaborators, queueing up to work with the Brisbane producer. Things are, quietly but definitely, going pretty well for Max Byrne and his music feels like the aural manifestation of that.

His debut album, Slowshine, gathers up all the different things that have been influential on the Golden Vessel sound to this point and presents them like a faintly glowing jumble of riches, peering out of the treasure chest. You can hear the early influences of downtempo producers like Bonobo and Caribou, then there’s the slow-burning indie-pop of Glass Animals and the subdued soul of James Blake meeting up with slightly more ambitious neosoul inflections from Frank Ocean, all rounded out by some of those bolder, banging hip hop sounds inspired by the likes of Brockhampton.

As much as he’s taken from others he clearly shares with his co-travellers in return. Slowshine is a work of just about compulsive collaboration: every cut on it featuring at least one guest vocal and many taking in two or three. These blend together like a long, sleepy roadtrip with friends; Byrne’s sweetly mumbling baritone spilling in with everyone else and making it all okay. Even when the emotions being negotiated are kind of troubling, there’s an equally strong, slightly stoned sensation of togetherness that means nothing can really go too wrong. Take the chorus of THEORANGESMOKEFLARE, as The Nicholas calmingly croons “Just turn around and don’t look back, coming down / Everything's been said / Can be around to calm you now, coming down…” Don’t worry, just chill, we'll be fine.

It’s absolutely obvious that, for the purposes of Golden Vessel at least, Max’s interest in vocal work has become overriding, there’s not a single instrumental in the ten songs here. It may seem like a pointless complaint but it does make me sad. 2016’s Before Sleep EP managed to sneak in a single instrumental cut, Sleeping Bag, a beautiful swell of synthwave that folded out into something lush but propulsive which reminded me of Tycho. No instrumentals here, however and -as trap has gently pushed its way much further into Slowshine-  there’s fewer beats of this kind altogether. Hey though, that gentle, wistful feeling of loss is just what Golden Vessel is here to help with.

One of my favourite numbers from Slowshine is Portrait, a collaboration with Woodes to which she brings a chorus of transcendent beauty. It’s a song about facing the future and around its edges there’s a lot of uncertainty, even existential dread: “Only leave one mark / Wonder what will come of us (Wait for it) / Moment, gather for a photo / Years are flying past (keep turning) / Only leave one mark / Wonder what will come of us (Wait for it) / Moment, gather for a photo / Frozen where we are (returning).” That’s never how it’s going to play out where Golden Vessel has a say, though. His music and Woodes' words join to face it together. “Cos looking up you start to see / All the places that you could be.”  When you think about it the right way, what can’t you overcome?”

I don’t know if Max Byrne always had this quality deep down inside him, or whether the growing success of Golden Vessel has built it up along the way. On Slowshine it all comes together in a gentle glow of unstoppable good feeling and when you hear it, you won’t really be bothered about questions which, after all, aren’t that important.

- Chris Cobcroft. 
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