Vheissu is the fourth studio album by Thrice

Thrice

Thrice is an American rock band from Irvine, California, formed in 1998. The group was founded by guitarist/vocalist Dustin Kensrue and guitarist Teppei Teranishi while they were in high school....

. It was released on October 17, 2005 by Island Records

Island Records

Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...

 and peaked at #15 on the Billboard 200

Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

 chart. The album was released in two separate versions, including a limited edition version containing a booklet detailing the creation process of each track.

The album is characterized by many critics as being a rather experimental

Experimental music

Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...

 deviation from Thrice's post-hardcore

Post-hardcore

Post-hardcore is a genre of music that developed from hardcore punk, itself an offshoot of the broader punk rock movement. Like post-punk, post-hardcore is a term for a broad constellation of groups...

 roots, with the implementation of elements such as piano melodies ("For Miles"), electronica

Electronica

Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...

 ("Red Sky"), folk Japanese music-box undertones ("Music Box" - The melody comes from the song Sakura Sakura) and chain gang

Chain gang

A chain gang is a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work, such as mining or timber collecting, as a form of punishment. Such punishment might include building roads, digging ditches or chipping stone...

 chant choruses ("The Earth Will Shake"). UK producer Steve Osborne

Steve Osborne

Steve Osborne is a multi-platinum selling British record producer. He has worked with a wide variety of musicians, such as New Order, Doves, U2 and KT Tunstall. During the 1990s, Osborne was half of the Perfecto Records team, a production and remix collaboration with Paul Oakenfold; the artists...

, whose past credits include many Brit-pop hits, was sought by Thrice to gain a new perspective on the songwriting process, enabling the band to expand their musical influences and produce a different album.

The title of the album comes from Thomas Pynchon

Thomas Pynchon

Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. is an American novelist. For his most praised novel, Gravity's Rainbow, Pynchon received the National Book Award, and is regularly cited as a contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature...

's novel V.

V.

V. is the debut novel of Thomas Pynchon, published in 1963. It describes the exploits of a discharged U.S. Navy sailor named Benny Profane, his reconnection in New York with a group of pseudo-bohemian artists and hangers-on known as the Whole Sick Crew, and the quest of an aging traveller named...

. Lead singer Dustin Kensrue

Dustin Kensrue

Dustin Michael Kensrue is a vocalist, lyricist, and rhythm guitarist in the Orange County, California post-hardcore/experimental rock quartet Thrice, as well as a solo artist....

 read the book and introduced the other band members to it, eventually using it as a central theme of the album.

The album artwork was created by author Dave Eggers

Dave Eggers

Dave Eggers is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He is known for the best-selling memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and for his more recent work as a screenwriter. He is also the co-founder of the literacy project 826 Valencia.-Life:Eggers was born in Boston, Massachusetts,...

 and artist Brian McMullen. Eggers has said that he had not done freelance design in years, but after meeting the band and reading the lyrics he was happy to be involved in the project.

Prior to the album release date, a four-part series of podcast

Podcast

A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...

s discussing the making of the album was released by the band, giving previews of each track and how it was recorded.

The morse code

Morse code

Morse code is a method of transmitting textual information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment...

at the beginning of "Image of the Invisible" spells out the album's title.

Track Listing and Personnel

1. "Image of the Invisible" – 4:14
2. "Between the End and Where We Lie" – 3:56
3. "The Earth Will Shake" – 4:29
4. "Atlantic" – 4:02
5. "For Miles" – 4:27
6. "Hold Fast Hope" – 4:01
7. "Music Box" – 4:46
8. "Like Moths to Flame" – 4:26
9. "Of Dust and Nations" – 4:50
10. "Stand and Feel Your Worth" – 5:52
11. "Red Sky" – 4:17
12. "Flags of Dawn" (Japanese bonus track) – 3:39
13. "Weight of Glory" (Japanese bonus track) – 4:24