### Pelican: What we all come to need

#### 29/06/10 || The Duff

I don’t know how Pelican did it (thinking them lost to the ill-will of the Italian crime syndicate -I think The Kremlin?), having had all their gear swiped in Rome, but persevere they seemed to pull off standing on their heads and masturbating to the wind via the completion of tours and reacquisition of some new, if not with fortune their old, possessions in the midst of what must have been quite a traumatic period. Despite this felicitous ease by which they overcame the Nazi regime’s (Italy’s notorious crime ring, right?) desire to foil their success as a band, it would seem trouble nonetheless started for these Chicago-based, all-instrumental post-rockers as early as their last album “City of Echoes”, self-pronounced as their “pop album” (much like with Isis’ “Wavering Radiant”) and generally not received kindly. I thought it was a killer record, probably stripped in part of the density adorning earlier efforts, but the pensive cleans and hard, driving riffs of their past sonic ensemble were as apparent as ever, my only complaint being that it was shy a track or two of displaying the graceful flow of absolutely everything released prior.

Anyways, the band pleased those hopefully praying for its wellbeing with an E.P. released last year entitled “Ephemeral”, only to follow it up in little time with this full-length, stated by the band and some reviewers as being a return to form, bringing back the splendour of the riff as well as their well established, inspirational sound, a mixture of the solemn, pendulous and the uplifting, care-free. To the reviewers who trashed “City of Echoes” I would ask: does “What We All Come to Need” have a track like “Dead Between the Walls” on it? Case fucking closed, Mr. Shit-Hot (the answer is no, no it does not)! It’s all subjective of course, but I cannot understand people who think along such lines – anyone who considers this to be less of a departure for Pelican than “City of Echoes” I can only see as ever being a casual fan, their opinion possibly skewed by the entrancing artwork. It’s a stretch (me being about as astute as a bowl of plums), but there aren’t enough hard-hitting riffs on this disc to justify words of a “return to form”.

“What We All Come to Need” is an album filled with nice ideas, the bulk of which follow the lighter side of Pelican’s sound and not indicative of a collective having faced the infamous n’ iniquitous Nosferatu, the undead of Rome that suck the blood of the young and feast upon their drained entrails, no. Following the theft, the band mentioned that they’d had a couple of years worth of recorded ideas robbed off them, and it would be interesting to know whether this disc was rushed out for a recoup or whether this is the genuine material the band had been writing following “City of Echoes” all along – many of the segments on “What We All Come to Need” clash very strikingly, the song structures depressingly predictable. The heavier riffs are alright, but whereas before we had simplicity and formulaic to give crushing when juxtaposed the cleaner sections, now we have the band “tech-ing” it up a bit rhythm-wise, and moving in unusual but unflattering directions.

It’s a new style for the band, without doubt, but the album is only just breaking into decency; it’s immediate predecessor had some dull moments, but enough real fucking good shit to pull it through – “What We All Come to Need” (with guest appearances from Aaron Turner of Isis, Greg Anderson of Sunn O))) and Allen Epley who provides vocals, reminding one of Mogwai – in all probability one of the band’s earliest influences), despite a more riff-based approach, is lacking a lot of balls, and instead comes across as a heartless jumble. As a last point, and I’m sure the guy is tired of hearing it, I’ve never heard a musician hold a band back as much as drummer Herweg; I won’t go into thinking up witty analogies and so forth much as my potential lies therein, because he does get the job done, but his rhythms are either incredibly colourless and repetitive or disgracefully out of place, disrupting any possible vibe this more upbeat, less atmospheric incarnation of the band could be striving towards.

- Information
- Released: 2009
- Label: Southern Lord
- Website: http://www.hydrahead.com/pelican/
- Band
- Brian Herweg: bass
- Trevor de Brauw: guitars
- Laurent Schroeder-Lebec: guitars
- Larry Herweg: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Glimmer
- 02. The Creeper
- 03. Ephemeral
- 04. Specks of Light
- 05. Srung Up From the Sky
- 06. An Inch Above Sand
- 07. What We All Come to Need
- 08. Final Breath