When I first saw Pelican live in their hometown of Chicago a few years back, they sounded, well, young: The quartet’s instrumentals guilelessly ventured from futuristic neo-metal à la Voivod to ominous, Neurosis-like art-doom to the high-prog constructions of King Crimson. Why? Because they could. The band’s maturation has been a matter of winnowing — finding the styles they do best, honing them rigorously, and chucking everything else. That process is complete on their third album, with the title track and the strongly melodic “Bliss in Concrete” achieving in five- or six-minute mini epics what used to take the band twice the time and effort.
Now Hear This: Pelican – “Far From Fields” DOWNLOAD MP3
