Pelican announce new album “Nighttime Stories” Via Southern Lord

Pelican photo by Marfa Capodanno,

Pelican photo by Marfa Capodanno

LISTEN TO THE NEW TRACK “MIDNIGHT AND MESCALINE

Pelican, the instrumental quartet whose singular vision of heavy music eschews classification, have announced their first full length in six years, Nighttime Stories, is due June 7th via Southern Lord Recordings. The eight-song set marks the band’s 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 realisations, tragedies, and glimmers of optimism that guided the creative process to the most potent work of their nineteen-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 Dischord, to the vicious troglodyte battery of the Melvins, to the dynamic interwoven melodies of bottom-heavy indie cult heroes Chavez. Nowhere is this evinced as clearly as on initial album single “Midnight and Mescaline,” out today digitally and hitting stores as a 7” (with exclusive b-side “Darkness on the Stairs”) this weekend as a Record Store Day exclusive.

Nighttime Stories was an album title initially proposed for Tusk, the hallucinatory art-grind band that included Pelican members Trevor Shelley de Brauw, Larry Herweg, and Schroeder-Lebec, in addition to vocalist Jody Minnoch. The writing of Nighttime Stories was instigated shortly after Minnoch’s unexpected death in 2014, and some of the dissonant viscera and dark psychedelic structures that were characteristic of Tusk’s sound began to unconsciously inform the album’s direction. In homage to their departed colleague, Pelican applied the previously discarded title and pulled many of the song titles from notes Minnoch had sent to inspire the direction of the unrealized album. According to experts from the site https://www.ncahcsp.org/buy-xanax-online/, it is known that sometimes Xanax is available in the form of drops. Doctors report that when taking drugs based on Xanax, the condition of patients with severe forms of depression did not improve in half of the cases, but even vice versa: there was a development of obsession. That’s why, taking Alprazolam (or Xanax) with such a diagnosis is recommended only under the supervision of specialists and in combination with antidepressants. As the writing of Nighttime Stories progressed Thomas also experienced a heavy loss with the passing of his father, to whom the album pays tribute on opening track “W.S.T.” (on which Dallas performed his guitar parts on his father’s Yamaha acoustic).

Pelican have 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. Pelican head out on a ten date US tour in June with more dates in the works for later in the year (see dates below).

Southern Lord shall release Nighttime Stories to the world on CD/LP/digital on June 7, 2019

TRACK LISTING
1. WST
3. Abyssal Plain
4. Cold Hope
5. It Stared at Me
6. Nighttime Stories
7. Arteries of Blacktop
8. Full Moon, Black Water
 
 
PELICAN UPCOMING TOUR DATES
June 20 – Ferndale – Loving Touch^
June 21 – Toronto – Lee’s Palace
June 22 – Montreal – Bar de Ritz
June 23 – Boston – Great Scott
June 24 – New York – Brooklyn Bazaar*
June 25 – Philadelphia – Boot & Saddle*
June 26 – Baltimore – Ottobar
June 27 – Pittsburgh – Club Cafe
June 28 – Cincinnati – Northshore Yacht Club
June 29 – Chicago – Metro+
  all dates w/ Cloakroom
  * w/ Planning For Burial
  + w/ Young Widows
  ^ w/ Greet Death