| Small Vessel | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | SJ Esau |
| Cover: | Small Vessel.png |
| Genre: | Indie rock |
| Label: | Anticon |
| Producer: | SJ Esau |
| Prev Title: | Wrong Faced Cat Feed Collapse |
| Prev Year: | 2007 |
| Next Title: | Exploding Views |
| Next Year: | 2014 |
Small Vessel is the second studio album by British indie rock musician SJ Esau. It was released on Anticon in 2008.[1]
Matt Rinaldi of AllMusic commented that Small Vessel "continues in the same genre-bending vein as its predecessor, blending elements of indie rock, folk, hip-hop, house, techno-pop, and industrial to create an end-product that is delightfully disorienting."[2] Dave Gurney of Tiny Mix Tapes gave the album 3 stars out of 5, writing, "Like being let into a friend's bedroom studio while he or she pores over partially and/or cryptically labeled tapes containing songs and experiments at varying states of completion, SJ Esau's sophomore effort Small Vessels has the initially intoxicating feeling of being let in on a secret treasure trove of restless musical creativity." He added, "Untitled bits of sonic debris mix with false starts of songs; hushed passages give way to lush arrangements of vocal and instrumental beauty bordering on the epic; and unexpected transitions and breaks suddenly expand or shrink the dynamic space in which they exist." Evan McGarvey of Pitchfork gave the album a 3.6 out of 10, stating that "Small Vessels strengths aren't unique; you can find dozens of whimsical, pseudo-surreal songwriters of this ilk (Why?, The Guillemots, Thee More Shallows, to start) who clutter their discs with fewer scribbles and less back-handed flippancy."