Pelican
Forever Becoming
Southern Lord
14 October 2013

by David Keevill

Pelican’s fifth full-length, Forever Becoming, has one of those nebulous and noncommittal titles that progressive instrumental bands tend to choose, presumably for the merit of not having to set their stall thematically. It’s indicative of a movement that the band have made with this album though; even for an act whose second nature is to push forward with the exploratory scope of their music, is this a step too far away from their roots?

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When Pelican announced they’d be doing their first UK shows in four years this April, the first thing Hugh Platt did was cry for joy. The second thing he did was call up their drummer, Larry Herweg, to chat about it.

Whatever ludicrous post-metal tag you like to slap on Pelican, the power and presence the quartet’s wield in heavy music’s instrumental sphere is undeniable. Now that the band is gearing up for their first UK shows in nearly half a decade (spearheaded by the release of their new Ataraxia/Taraxis EP, to which we awarded a praiseworthy 5.5 out of 6 when we reviewed it a couple of weeks back), we gave the band’s drummer, Larry Herweg a call. In between reminding us how much better the whether is over in Los Angeles right now, Larry was more than happy to give us an insight into just why Pelican have been shied from our shores since 2008, and what inspired the release that’s brought them back here after so long away.

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Pelican
Ataraxia/Taraxis
Southern Lord
10 April 2012

by Ruth Booth

I’ve got a straw man here, and my thumb’s got an itch only a zippo can scratch. It all started with the press release for this EP. It states that with the members of Pelican now spread out across the country, and resulting changes to the ways in they record and write, “the EP represents a new chapter in the band’s evolution”. While all that maybe true – sorry Trevor, but say what?

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