Pelican: City of Echoes

After receiving praise for their debut album Australasia and the epic The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw, Pelican‘s third full-length release, City of Echoes (Hydra Head), finds the instrumental quartet once again blending atmospheric rock with a touch of doom.

Recorded at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio Studios in Chicago with Andrew Schneider, who has worked with Cave In and Unsane among others, the warm production adds to their already rich sounds. Their music ranges from upbeat and cheerful to melancholic and pensive. To call it metal is unfair, and frankly, doesn’t make sense for a band whose material is as likely to be delicate as dark.

For instance, “Winds With the Hands,” an acoustic jaunt, showcases the band’s technical skill and classical influences, and the album’s title track is more reminiscent of ’90s-era college alt-rock than anything with a metallic aftertaste.

Although engaging, a few more bumps along the way could do a great deal to jar the listener back to full attention rather than set the pace for intellectual autopilot. At times, transitions in tempo and mood are a little too smooth, moving back and forth so easily they are surprisingly easy to miss.

However, the album does have several standout tracks like the heavy, prog-rock “Lost in the Headlights,” which catches the band at its most aggressive with driving riffs and frantic rhythms. “Far From the Fields” starts out sullen before coming out of its shell halfway through, like a night sky breaking into day.

With City of Echoes, Pelican will have longtime fans smiling, and are bound to bring some new listeners into their fold.

– Jamie Ludwig
Pelican (Hydra Head)