Review Summary: A great debut from Chicagos finest instrumental band.
Sludgy, Slow, Atmospheric, Heavy, Melodic; these few words can be used to describe Pelican’s sound but just wouldn’t do it justice for this is an impressive debut by Chicago’s finest instrumental band. Similar to recordings by Cult of Luna and Isis, Pelican play a form of music classed as “Post Metal” with the exclusion of vocals, hence instrumental. This form of music is often defined by the use of distorted guitars, restraint, the gradual build up of songs and the almighty crescendo’s that leave the listener overwhelmed when well crafted. On the self-titled EP, Pelican almost manage that.
Things get started with album opener ‘Pulse’ which is pretty average as far as intros go but it is rather deceiving. From first listen I assumed it would be a more upbeat affair, but these expectations were quickly doused by the following tracks as they are dark in mood and possess a disturbing, almost menacing vibe. Just listen to the intro to tracks ‘The Woods’ and ‘Forecast for Today’, which are the probably the best tracks on offer here. Unlike the first two tracks, these tracks twist and turn and build up for minutes at a time, before reaching an epic climax, which can only be described as a wall of sound cemented together by these four musicians.
Instrumentally, Pelican are not overly technical but they definitely excel in their song writing abilities. The drums and bass keep a solid rhythm section and don’t particularly stand out, except maybe the drummer (for the wrong reasons) who is often criticised for sounding awkward and generally not fitting the bands style of music. Throughout, he’s keeps a steady, very basic beat which is fine but can get a little boring. Since Pelican are more about creating soundscapes this isn’t a major problem as the sound as whole more than compensates for his lack of innovation and originality. It’s Pelican’s guitar duo who really standout though (for the right reasons) because of their knack at creating interesting, intertwining hooks and melodies. Guitarists Trevor de Brauw and Laurent-Schroeder Lebec craft some of the heaviest, catchiest hooks that your ears should be lucky enough to hear. This is portrayed best by the appropriately named track ‘Mammoth’, which is funnily enough, slow and plodding and every bit the musical representative of the large, woolly beast. Although it doesn’t change much, it’s guaranteed that the ‘chug chug’ guitar sections will get your head moving.
Despite suffering from a rather short length of time, this is otherwise a great debut with few flaws and shows that Pelican were destined for greater things e.g. The Fire in Our Throats… and City of Echoes. The album covers a number of different types of music and mood. Here you have a track which showcases how heavy the band can really be (Mammoth), another showing them at their most upbeat (Pulse). Some people may not enjoy the album because of the complete lack of vocals, but this is doubtful as this genre of music doesn’t tend to utilise vocals so much, but is more about creating atmospheres and soundscapes. So, would I recommend this? Yes, as it’s a good starting place for those wanting to listen to Pelican, and allows the listener to hear the sheer amount of progress in their sound and song writing if later albums were to be acquired. Although this is a great debut, it is certainly not their best.
