Pelican - What We All Come to Need

What We All Come to Need could be construed as an assuming title. When ascribing the idea of necessity to one’s own project, one risks abject failure, though the delivery of an essential work may well be worth that risk. But what do Pelican, now a well-vetted force in post-metal, deliver? Arguably, the most accessible album of their oeuvre. Need builds on – or rather, takes away from – the shortened and simplified song structures implemented on 2007’s City of Echoes, while the production highlights the band’s soaring riffs and sombre subtleties. The stand-out title track exemplifies this notion, exhibiting a spacey, almost-shoegazing aesthetic. Wrapping things up comes a guest vocalist, a sleepy yet seductive voice from Allen Epley (of The Life and Times), bringing us the first Pelican song with lyrical content. So while necessity remains subjective, Pelican have finally succeeded in delivering an album more approachable to those outside the limiting sphere of heavy music.