Pelican

What We All Come To Need

Southern Lord 2009

I'll admit this is my first exposure to this hyped American instrumental crew and I was somewhat surprised.  Not really expecting much I was pleasantly surprised by their sludge-worshipping post-hardcore odes to late-afternoon nostalgia.  Hearing a sludgier take on near melodic riffing that brings to mind a heavier, moodier Farside, sans vocals of course.  And thusly album opener Glimmer reals its way into those faded yet sun scrubbed memories of yesteryear, somehow brighter and softer yet filled with current of anger and despair at their passing.  The calm melodies that conclude the song remind me a little of Irepress, but of course less jazzy and more powerful.  Hints of drone reverb herald the arrival of The Creeper with its Alt-rock infused doom riffs.  Angry metallic riffs clench and slowly grind beneath graceful melodies on Speck Of Light which utilizes forceful drums and a rockin' groove in the song's innards.  More transcendent webs weave themselves upon a muscular bass-line around the track's halfway point.  On the title track delicate melodies glide across lovelorn riffs that unite feelings of rearward longing and shattered love, still bleeding after years of tear-stained washing, until only the soft, happy memories remain.  The album's closer, Final Breath feature dreamy ethereal vocals drifting like clouds across a humid afternoon soundscape of languid near-melodies.  It reminds me of a less fragile Texas Is the Reason.  On What We All Come To Need, Pelican brings a welcome moment of calm, yet subversively angry emotion that pulls at my heart while raging with grooves of forlorn intensity.