Pelican "Flickering Resonance" [Orange Vinyl] 2LP

Flickering Resonance marks Chicago rock institution Pelican's first album in six years. With founding guitarist Laurent Schroeder-Lebec rejoining the band for his first full length since 2009’s What We All Come To Need, the album’s eight songs tap into the spirit of their formative era when Schroeder-Lebec teamed with fellow guitarist Trevor Shelley de Brauw and brothers Bryan and Larry Herweg (on bass and drums respectively) during the heyday of Chicago’s all ages hub Fireside Bowl. The venue’s variegated booking style would often result in post-hardcore, space-rock, indie, metal, and emo bands sharing bills, unwittingly providing a vast template of influences for the young band. "A lot of people didn’t hear it at first,” says Schroeder-Lebec of the band’s roots in a panoply of punk-related subgenres. “I was like, well, I guess the metal world is where we fit. But now we're more willing to acknowledge all the suits we’re wearing.”

Though Pelican’s thick sonic backbone remains intact, via a recording by longtime ally Sanford Parker (a collaborator as far back as their first EP), the songs on Flickering Resonance demonstrate a more humanistic side of the band. Songs like “Pining For Ever” and “Indelible” tease Pelican’s doom-metal bonafides while feeling equally ebullient and earnest - playing like a downtuned Texas Is The Reason transmuted to a post-rock landscape. Meanwhile songs like the searing lead single “Cascading Crescent” act as an appreciation for the glimmers of joy that occur even in the bleakest landscapes, as represented by an opening cavalcade of heavy riffs that pivot mid-song to a sugar rush of pastoral melodies.

“When Laurent left and we were able to carry it through, there became a real sense of gratitude for the fact we still have this artistic outlet and a community of people who want to support it,” states Shelley de Brauw, referencing Schroeder-Lebec’s ten year sabbatical from the group. That feeling of deep, grounded appreciation doesn’t just dwell within the band members, it’s expressed outwardly in every track on Flickering Resonance. Because at the core of Pelican are four individuals who have grown both separately and together, and always will.