Pelican – Flickering Resonance | Album Review

There are bands in every genre that make an indelible mark on both a generation of fans and a generation of musicians. In what is now a burgeoning post-rock scene bursting with instrumental mood-makers, the debt owed to Chicago-based riff lords Pelican is substantial.

Emerging at the dawn of the 21st century to critical acclaim with the release of their debut album Australasia on Aaron Turner’s Hydra Head label, the band toured extensively with the likes of Cave In and Mono, establishing themselves at the forefront of a scene that was in its relative infancy. Finding that their creative process left little room for vocals, the band let their instruments do the talking and the messages were captivating.

Flickering Resonance arrives six long years after Pelican’s last outing Nighttime Stories and sees the band reuniting with founding guitarist Laurent Schroeder-Lebec who amicably departed the fold more than a decade back. The backbone of the band’s sound is the thundering bass and drums of brothers Bryan and Larry Herweg, with the quartet completed by guitarist Trevor de Brauw. The interplay between these four tightly bonded individuals is what drew so many to the band way back when, and to take absolutely nothing away from the laudable contributions of erstwhile guitarist Dallas Thomas, it’s a thrill to have the original lineup together once again.

The title of album opener ‘Gulch’ is either a reference to the short-lived California hardcore band or simply the name for a steep sided ravine forged by a fast-moving stream, and given the range of influences that fuel the members of Pelican, both are entirely plausible. Schroeder-Lebec has spoken of the richness inherent in attending mixed bill shows during formative years coming up in Chicago, and as the track’s fanfare-like opening swallow-dives into a gloriously chunky, doomy riff, the genre-spanning promise of what is to come is palpable. Follow-up ‘Evergreen’ delivers on this promise: it’s uplifting and contemplative with patterns and motifs that evoke daydreams of exploration into expanses of open space.

The mid-section of the record is comprised of the tracks ‘Indelible’, ‘Specific Resonance’ and lead single ‘Cascading Crescent’, which all individually carry the driving forward momentum that is a hallmark of the band’s sound, yet it’s in this passage of the album that it falls a little short of the best work Pelican have produced. ‘Indelible’ feels iterative rather than innovative, with a repeating riff that transitions into a late build only for the following track to reset without the cohesion and sense of flow that keeps the hooks in and the mind fully engaged. The middle part of ‘Specific Resonance’ contains some of the quietest, most delicate moments on the record and they sit beautifully, if fleetingly, in the run. ‘Cascading Crescent’ suffers from its placement as it’s a very solid track in its own right with a pounding drum intro and layers of detail that will undoubtedly come to life in a live setting, but it somehow feels underpowered here despite its punchy runtime.

‘Pining Forever’ is the album’s standout track and strikes a sublime balance between elements of light and shade with its drawn-out opening passage sliding into a sparse and tantalising mid section which elegantly builds to a rousing finish as the creation opens into full bloom.  The track clears the path for ‘Flickering Stillness’ and its meandering journey onwards and upwards towards the clouds. The album closes with ‘Wandering Mind’ and it seems a fitting name for a track that provokes deep thought but perhaps fails to land on a satisfying conclusion.

Flickering Resonance is in some sense an ode to perseverance. Some 22 years removed from the release of Australasia, the band still dovetail beautifully with one another. The grooves still hit and hold weight; the barreling momentum is present and correct; the landscapes conjured have lost little of their vividness. We are all a bit further down the road and at times it might be unclear how best to navigate the present moment, but we know that there is more to come and that we are made of the experiences and achievements that brought us here. Press on.