Events
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
I honestly have no clue how I found Pelican. I’m assuming I found them through suggestions related to Isis, but it’s hard to keep track anymore. I do, however, remember cranking them in my living room after purchasing The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw (2005) and getting a positive reaction from my old roommate who is notoriously over-critical of just about any music. Then again he’s grown to detest everything except Vivaldi and Bon Jovi for some reason… so the joke’s on him.
It’s a little too easy for instrumental post-rock to get too abstract and lose your attention. I guess the big appeal to said genre is the increased focus on tension and dynamics, but sometimes that idea gets lost in the art. Anyways, Pelican keeps my attention the whole way through despite lacking vocals and sometimes even a discernible melody. I like that they can successfully change-up their tone without seeming to sacrifice their sound. Typically, post-metal bands are always dark and depressing. It seems Pelican knows how to execute dynamics more than just in volume. It’s hard for me to put my finger on what it is exactly that singles them out among the pack… I guess it’s the way they push the so-called boundaries of their genre without depending on weird sound effects, added instruments, or an array of synthesizers. It’s true that sometimes the best creativity comes out of the constraints put upon it. I also happen to really like their guitar work, subtle and intricate.
For those of you who have already adopted post-metal into your lexicon and understand what it is, you probably already know who Pelican is. I’d hold them in similar regards as Russian Circles, Red Sparrows, and Isis. Actually, Pelican is on Hydra Head records which is owned by Isis’s guitarist, Aaron Turner, who also created the artwork on Pelican’s albums (and many other artists as well). But back to Pelican, though they can be heavy, they’re not as heavy as the above mentioned bands. The hard and heavy rhythms are there, but the timbre isn’t. I’d be so radical as to say Pelican is to post-metal as Days of the New is to grunge. If that doesn’t make any sense… don’t worry about it. It’s a vague analogy at best.
Add New Comment
Viewing 3 Comments
Thanks. Your comment is awaiting approval by a moderator.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Add New Comment