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Album of the Week 24/02/2010 |
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Written by Wavelength Staff
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Wednesday, 24 February 2010 11:21 |
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Pelican - What We All Come to Need Review by Dan Bayfield 
You all know those feelings you get when heading out for a surf; the excitement and anticipation when driving through the hills or urban sprawl on a chilly morning, along your own secret rat run wondering which of your surf buddies will be there too; the frustration when you're stuck behind a tractor, or 90 year old Doris who can hardly see over the dashboard and drives at 12 miles an hour possibly causing you to miss the best wave of the day (or just not get a place in the car park). And when you're in the water you'll have a whole load of experiences; if you're lucky, the serenity of the first rays of light hitting the oncoming peaks and troughs to build you're excitement, or the cold rush of fear and nervousness when the water first seeps into your suit and cups your balls like the cold hand of an angry ex-lover. Perhaps the sinking feeling at finding your chosen spot is flat, or your secret spot has somehow become overrun with a coach load of tourists or less discerning photographers with a penchant for saying exactly where they got their shot. Then theres the high you get from a successful days surfing, hanging with your mates and afterwards telling tales like fisherman about what you caught and how big it was. Well, Pelican manage to perfectly convey all of these emotions in this fine set of sprawling, atmospheric, part doom, part post-rock instrumentals under the collective title of What We All Come To Need. All expertly crafted and with no vocals (bar the last track with guest vocalist Allen Epley) theres no whiny twat to distract you from your pending, or just enjoyed, surf. The album also boast a fine pedigree of guest musicians, namely Aaron Turner of Isis and Greg Anderson of Sunn O))) on a couple of tracks. Song titles "Glimmer", "Ephemeral", "Specks Of light", "Strung Up From The Sky" and "An Inch Above Water" (a particularly fine track indeed) should hint at the subject matter of nature that dominates across all of Pelicans albums (all of which are also well worth investigating). Here they've delivered yet another genre defining slab of musicianship which would sound equally at home sat in your van waiting for the thunder, lightning and rain to stop as it would if you were on a beach with sun on your face and sand between your toes. Check out a particularly fine example their music (though from a previous album)
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