Pelican’s latest is the kind of record where we’ll gladly break our own rule of posting a review post release date. Especially with the fact that we lucked into an early promo stream of Flickering Resonance, the seventh LP from the Chicago instrumental Post-Metal outfit, and have had a draft in the works in some form or another for months now. Because like the finely crafted collection of eight tracks that you’re now able to hear across any of your most favorite listening devices, art takes time (We jest! Pelican makes art, we do not).
Anyway! Is Flickering Resonance the best Pelican album to date? We certainly think so. Did the return of founding guitarist Laurent Schroeder-Lebec after almost 13 years contribute to the overall equally crushing, cathartic and ultimately celebratory nature of Pelican’s newest??? Maybe! Regardless, there’s no denying that Pelican’s first for Run For Cover Records is truly something special. And in our case, special enough that it solidified our decision to choose their show at The Sinclair in late July (More on that later) over Ghost at the Gahden if that says anything.
To this day, Pelican remains beyond reproach when it comes to their brand of instrumental heaviness. No one sounds like this band while on the flippity flip, the sounds that they create together are so utterly and obviously Pelican. For you music nerds out there, it’s the same way that composers like Danny Elfman (Batman/Spider-Man to Midnight Run to Good Will Hunting) or Michael Kamen (The Lethal Weapon series to Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves to Mr. Holland’s Opus) put their stamp across an impressive array of films that range from silly to serious and everything in between. Then there’s these flawless transitions throughout which are so smooth you’ll swear some songs are longer than they actually are (“Gulch” into Evergreen” right off the bat!) and, with Pelican’s track record in the past (Have you heard the original version of “March To The Sea”???), is not so unbelievable to state.
Okay, enough gushing (Kind of)! How’s it sound? Is it too soon to throw the terms “epic” and “iconic” around? Because Flickering Resonance is one big ole timeless Pelican classic from start to finish that fits those descriptors easily! “Gulch” begins with wailing guitars from Schroeder-Lebec and Trevor Shelley de Brauw coming off like a siren heralding the oncoming storm as the Herweg brothers (Bryan on bass, Larry on drums) enter and solidify the sounds being conjured with “Evergreen” keeping the momentum flowing, carrying the heft of Australasia and the infectiousness of What We All Come To Need but for today.
“Indelible”, too, is this kind of raw future transported from fragments of the past captured in a genie’s bottle and unfurling over a gnarly seven minutes and then some while “Specific Resonance” has got to be one of the catchiest Pelican songs recorded to date with Larry laying out the steady beats and de Brauw and Schroeder-Lebec’s screaming lines entering Desert Rawk territory at times (Think Karma To Burn). “Cascading Crescent” is next and is very much “Old School” Pelican to its’ core as “Pining For Ever” comes in with those uncanny riffs and the Larry/Bryan rhythmic runs bringing an aura especially during the big, beautiful breakdown deeper in.
Next, “Flickering Stillness” has to be one of the coolest Pelican songs ever written! So seemingly subtle yet so intricate and intense and reminiscent of those big builds that Isis used to create but before getting to those Aaron Turner howls and a bombastic explosion of sounds, this jam by Pelican simply ends. Oh wait, coolest Pelican songs ever written might actually be reserved for closer “Wandering Mind”! Bryan’s bass hits like Eric Avery’s in the early Jane’s Addiction daze while Schroeder-Lebec and de Brauw’s guitars circle and add some psychedelic vibes akin to The Doors’ trippier moments with Larry keeping the whole thing honest and on point through his playing on the drums.
Flickering Resonance is out now through Run For Cover Records and you can get your hands on a copy when you head here. For more from Pelican, like the upcoming headlining run that stops at The Sinclair on July 21st (Along with Porcelain and recently announced local heavies Glacier, tix here), follow them on their socials across the interwebs by clicking here, here, here, or here.