Pelican have entered the red-giant phase of their life cycle as a band. They’re as big as they’ve ever been, and they’re still active creatively, but on the surface things seem to have cooled down. Hell, I’ve been a fan for 13 years, and I haven’t found an excuse to write about them since 2013, when I went to Indiana to try their second Three Floyds collaboration beer, a beautiful black IPA called Immutable Dusk. (My buddy Kevin Warwick took care of reviewing Forever Becoming, the album they released that year.)
You can listen to the vocal version of “The Cliff” below. Epley’s relaxed but powerful singing complements the song’s range of guitar tones—its growling, distorted riffs are shot through with clean notes like sunbeams.
