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For many, Pelican have much to answer for. Their career thus far has been haphazard. For every great doom-laden slab like the self-titled EP or Australasia, there are messy, wankish post-rock releases like City of Echoes and the Pink Mammoth EP. A label switch to Southern Lord didn’t raise hopes for a change in direction.
Perhaps the threat of excellent albums released by instru-metal peers Russian Circles (reviewed here) and Red Sparowes lit a fire under Pelican’s collective ass, because What We All Come to Need is their best release in the last four years. That delicate balance between metal and post-whatever is tricky to find, never mind maintain, and this band has made a big step in that direction.
Song cohesion plays a major part in this improvement. “The Creeper” starts with a fairly simple, sludgy riff and stays focused, building on the melody for the next seven minutes without meandering off into the space-rock forest. The title track assembles melodic layers in a similar fashion, yet gives guitarists Laurent Lebec and Trevor de Brauw room to explore. This focus and emphasis on restrained repetition results in the heavy parts staying heavy.
That’s not to say Pelican are ditching their shoegaze elements; the midsection on “Specks of Light” would feel at home on a Swervedriver track. “Final Breath” features vocals(!) from The Life And Times/Shiner frontman Allen Epley, whose airy harmonic delivery recalls My Bloody Valentine and Jarboe.
I was expecting another letdown but was pleasantly surprised with this album. Here’s to hoping Pelican can maintain the balance they’ve found and find new ways to expand on it.
Buy:
Amazon (CD)
Amazon (MP3)
Relapse (CD, shirt)
Southern Lord (CD/DVD, shirt)
Blue Collar Distro (CD, shirt, hoodie)
You can stream this album in full here.
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I seem to be in the minority of Pelican fans in that I think City of Echoes is their best album. It is the most appealing, direct and enjoyable to me, at least.
I like WWACTN quite a bit, but it took a while to grow on me.
Reviewed it over here.
yeah you are in the very small majority. COE was one of the biggest let down records EVER and Pelican haven't really recovered since
minority(whoops)
I also think City of Echoes is their best… Anyone else in the minority?
I'm with Foeglitarian. The drumming on City of Echoes was wretched, and the mastering was like a thumb in the eye. At least that problem seems to have been solved here.
My first exposure to Pelican was (gasp) City of Echoes. I was actually looking for something I could listen to in my office (stuffy professional environment) that didn't have harsh vocals, or vocals at all as it were. I liked COE and subsequently checked out TFIOTWBTT which I enjoyed immensely. I then went to the dvd/mini cd. Then on one glorious day at Ameoba, I picked up Australiasia and the s/t ep on vinyl. Even though I went backwards, I don't think the recent release compare to those two albums. They rule…hard. Sound-wise, this new album is closer to the first 2 albums. Some really great moments and a bit faster at points than I expect from Pelican.
while i don't find city of echoes to be horrendous, i never found it as enthralling as the other pieces of work. admittedly though the title track itself, city of echoes, is one of my favorites in the entire pelican library o songs.
pulse still my all time fave, followed by sirius.
mark me down as in the pro-city of echoes camp. never understood all the hate for pelican.
oh well – to each their own.
I didn't like City of Echoes much, especially following up from The Fire in Our Throats… which I find to be the most enjoyable album they've released.
I haven't liked anything since the first ep, largely due in part to the sub-standard drumming and the inability of the band to get out of their own way w/ their arrangements.
This new record is very good however. I attribute that fact to the band writing some more direct material and forcing their drummer to play to a click track in the studio.
Now if the could just stay the course on this direction and take away the drummers double-bass pedal they'd be in business…