A primarily instrumental post-metal act who use extended compositions to explore the texture and timbre of heavy noise, Pelican can be crushingly heavy or ethereal within the same song. Based out of Chicago, the group emerged in 2001 and released their debut album, Australasia, in 2003. They continued to explore the outer reaches of stoner rock, doom, and post-metal on acclaimed subsequent outings like City of Echoes (2007), Forever Becoming (2013), and Nighttime Stories (2019).
The secretive instrumental art metal outfit was formed in Chicago by guitarists Trevor de Brauw and Laurent Lebec, as well as bassist Larry Herweg and his sibling drummer, Bryan. Owing a great debt to pioneering forefathers Neurosis and often compared to Boston's Isis, Pelican coincidentally also found a home at Isis mastermind Aaron Turner's Hydra Head Records. After making their debut with an eponymous four-song EP in 2003, Pelican expanded their epic, otherworldly trance-metal with 2003's critically acclaimed Australasia, followed in 2004 by The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw. After heavy touring, the quartet took a much-deserved break. They returned to the studio in 2006 and released City of Echoes in June 2007, followed by the concert LP/film After the Ceiling Cracked later that December. What We All Come to Need, the band's fourth studio effort, appeared in 2009. While an EP, Ataraxia/Taraxis, arrived in 2012, that year would see the departure of Laurent Lebec, who was replaced by touring guitarist Dallas Thomas. Carrying on with a new lineup, the band released their fifth full-length, Forever Becoming, in 2013.
In 2015, Pelican issued the Cliff EP. It featured the album tracks in four different versions, including remixes from Justin Broadrick, Aaron Harris, and Bryant Clifford Meyer. It also included a vocal version featuring Allen Epley and a previously unreleased track, the semi-acoustic "The Wait." 2019 proved to be a busy year for the group, with the arrivals of a remixed and remastered version of Forever Becoming, a Record Store Day single, and a brand-new studio album, Nighttime Stories.
Band Members
Trevor de Brauw – guitar
Bryan Herweg – bass
Larry Herweg – drums
Laurent Schroeder-Lebec – guitar
"Flickering Resonance", Pelican’s latest, provides more to dig. The group sounds as jubilant as ever, welcoming founder Laurent Schroeder-Lebec back into the fold to produce all the tectonic riffage and meditative headbanging one could hope for. There’s a little something for anyone who has ever had even a passing interest in the group, from the City of Echoes homage “Evergreen”, or the twinkly opener “Gulch” sounding almost like a sped-up version of Untitled EP’s “Mammoth”. Plenty of comparisons can be made, but the greater point is: if you liked the other stuff, you’ll like this too.
What keeps Flickering Resonance from sounding like a glorified retread is its even keel. These songs are long and sprawling, unafraid to luxuriate on grooves that expand and contract, yet rarely explode with the requisite pyrotechnics the genre would have you come to expect. This isn’t a bad thing, however, as it’s somewhat refreshing that epic tracks like “Indelible” and “Flickering Stillness” navigate their climaxes with a familiar ease, gently rising and falling like sitting on a surfboard through a wave. Nowhere is this illustrated better than the meditatively bass-heavy “Wandering Mind”, which stands as one of the most unique tracks in the band’s entire catalog as it cascades its hypnotic groove into a triumphant daydream.
While Flickering Resonance isn’t going to edge out the band’s strongest work (“Cascading Crescent” asks a bit too much of the listener while offering little; a few minutes could have likely been shaved from the total runtime), it is another strong entry in their catalog that provides plenty of reasons for the band to sound as celebratory and victorious as they do.
Album & Track List
01. Gulch
02. Evergreen
03. Indelible
04. Specific Resonance
05. Cascading Crescent
06. Pining For Ever
07. Flickering Stillness
08. Wandering Mind
/ XBTT (1) by Dejavu
