04-11 New Pelican album/song 03-04 Pelican drop free live album 07-11 Pelican stream new live album
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It seems fitting, upon listening to Pelican's music, that the band hails from Chicago. When Tortoise and their contemporaries ushered in a newwave of instrumental music over a decade ago it was a pastiche of genre-defying sound,simultaneously cohesive and expansive in influence.Similarly, Pelican's songs touch on so much from the canon of rock music.Never contentto remain static over the course of their almost decadelong career, 2009 finds Pelican has shifted gears once again. This year sees them on a new label, Southern Lord — a label helmed by GregAnderson, whose own axe conjurations in SU ...read more
It seems fitting, upon listening to Pelican's music, that the band hails from Chicago. When Tortoise and their contemporaries ushered in a newwave of instrumental music over a decade ago it was a pastiche of genre-defying sound,simultaneously cohesive and expansive in influence.Similarly, Pelican's songs touch on so much from the canon of rock music.Never contentto remain static over the course of their almost decadelong career, 2009 finds Pelican has shifted gears once again. This year sees them on a new label, Southern Lord — a label helmed by GregAnderson, whose own axe conjurations in SUNN, Goatsnake and Engine Kid have long been admired by the Pelican camp – and presenting anew full length. What We All ComeTo Need is Pelican through and through and the apex of their creative aspirations. It is the album that straddlesmost confidently the fine line between adherence to roots and the mining of the unexplored.http://pelican.bandcamp.comWhen the quartet's first full length, Australasia, came out in late 2003, it was an experiment in crushing heaviness,albeit melodic andcompositionally complex that set them apart from their contemporaries. The songs excelled in exploring layers: where there were glacier-thickwalls of guitars, there were also shifts and nuances that gave the songs room to breathe.These nuances became even more pronounced onPelican's 2005 sophomore album, The Fire in our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw. Pegged early on as a “metal” band, it was with this second fulllength that it became apparent that this label was an oversimplification as the group had more in common with Slint and Hum than Slayer. With2007’sCity of Echoesyet anotherstep in Pelican's evolution was unveiled. This new album showcased urgency, more twists andunexpectedturns;songs withmore of a lyrical feel. And as evidenced by the post-DC-punk influenced title track, the band's disparateinfluenceswerepresented with increasing clarity as guitar dynamics and rhythmic interplay came out from behind the wall of soundthatwereevident on previous recordings. With shorter songs and a pronounced live feel, City of Echoes was an ode to the road:amusicalmanifesto to pile into a van and travel for months at a time—something they had done relentlessly.Ephemeral, a three-song teaser EP released in early 2009, paved the way for thenew full length. Trevor deBrauw reckonstheband was once againat the mercy of “the riff” … how Pelicancould be more riff-orientedthan they had evidenced on eachoftheir previous albums is hard to imagine, butitshould be noted thatDylan Carlson, of Earth fame, lent the band a hand in re-creating an Earth songfrom their first 7”. And thatspeaks volumesas to what those “riffs” would continue to be like …beautifullyheavy.In July 2009 Pelican ventured to Seattle to lay down a new album with ChrisCommon, who has helmedrecords for a varietyofbands, from MinusThe Bear to These Arms Are Snakes.Eight songs were recordedover three weeks at Robert Lange,RedRoom Studios, and Elektrokitty.Beautifullyheavy results? You bet. Aspunishing as it is calming, What We All Come To NeedisPelican at their mostinspired and sonicallyadept,delivering 50 minutes of weighty riffs and textured progressionsinmomentoussuccession. This isn’tmaturation as much as it is confidenceand purpose, and the latter are stampedoneverynote. GregAnderson, Aaron Turner (ISIS), Allen Epley (Life And Times), as well as BenVerellen(Helms Alee)guested,lendingthe record organic diversity.Fall 2009 will see Pelican presenting their new album in the live setting once again,first with a full U.S. tourscheduled tostartlate October. Theywill be joined, among others, by Disappearerand Black Cobra, the latterof which also sees a fallrelease fortheir new album on Southern Lord. http://www.hydrahead.com/pelican/ « hide |
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