Pelican Nighttime Stories Vinyl

Chicago instrumental rockers Pelican return with ‘Nighttime Stories’ which is the cult bands first studio album in six years as the majority of the bands output after 2013’s ‘Forever Becoming’ consists of live recordings. The quartets singular vision of heavy music eschews classification and the eight track album is the first release written front to back with guitarist Dallas Thomas, who took over guitar duties upon founding member Laurent Schroeder -Lebec’s departure in 2012. In the process of writing the album, the quartet endured a slew of realizations, tragedies, and glimmers of optimism that guided the creative process to the most potent work of its 19-year career. Though the new material veers towards the darker tone characteristic of Pelican’s early songwriting, it's hard to imagine a previous incarnation of the band writing songs as meticulously crafted and detail-oriented as those within ‘Nighttime Stories’ where the compositions recall everything from the triumphant call-to-arms of classic Discord, to the vicious troglodyte battery of the Melvins, to the dynamic interwoven melodies of bottom-heavy indie cult heroes Chavez.

Pelican has always excelled at vacillating between the savage sounds of various niches of metal underground and the more delicate and nuanced sounds of Midwest's cerebral indie community, proving that they can make either end of the spectrum more vibrant and compelling through the art of contrast. With ‘Nighttime Stories’ the pendulum has swung back to the angst and ire of their younger years while delivering it with the nuance and wisdom that's come with nearly two decades of writing and performing.

Per a statement, a sense of loss and tragedy permeates ‘Nighttime Stories’. Thomas’ album opener “W.S.T” is a tribute to his late father, while the record’s title was taken from a project guitarist Trevor de Brauw and Larry Herweg were prepping with their other band, Tusk, when that group’s lead singer, Jody Minnoch suddenly died in 2014.