Artist of the day: Pelican

I was going to do a "song of the day" again, but in this case it's not just one song that really grabbed me or made my day, it's an artist. That artist is Pelican, whose two releases, the self-titled EP and the follow-up album, Australasia, just really fit my day. It was an annoying day and since I've been in the mood for thee ol' 'eavy stuff anyway, Pelican's sun-beaming-through-dark-clouds take on the doom-and-gloom metal scene is a breath of fresh air from the just-plain-doom metal of counterparts like Neurosis.

Typically this kind of stuff is propelled by deep, booming, growled vocals but in the case of Pelican they rely on clever use of textures and change-ups in the slow-moving riffing that builds and builds. The most ear-catching thing about Pelican is that "sun-beaming-through-dark-clouds" approach they take - rather than pummel the listener with ear-scraping volume and speed, they let each track gradually shift, often from dark minor chords to uplifting major chords in a way that retains the epic glory without giving in to the velveeta excess that one might associate with more "uplifting" metal. To be sure, this is not music intended for the light-eared listener or the easily bored - the four-song EP is 30 minutes long! That's not to say it's demanding on the listener, either - unlike, say, Meshuggah - it's simply that you actually can just veg-out to it if you want to, but if you listen close there's still something to discover. If you've had a stupid day like I did, this might just suit your listening needs.

(Site of the day is always the beautiful lull.)

Article Author: Tom Johnson

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