After a silent six years, Pelican, the post-metal outfit from Chicago will be returning with their first music in six years this Record Store Day (RSD). In addition to a release of a 7″ vinyl this upcoming April 13th, the band have announced a summer 2019 North American tour, which is set to take place from June 20th to June 29th.

This 7″ will include “Midnight and Mescaline,” which is described as a “an unrelenting riff marathon, careening from eviscerating heaviness to metal-infused fretboard frenetics to cathartic melody in a compact five minute sprint.” In addition it will contain “Darkness on the Stairs” as its B-Side, a track which will go back to the bands early 90s sound, with punk influences.

This will also coincide with a deluxe re-release of their 2013 album Forever Becoming, which will receive better mixing as a part of its remastering. This re-release will also include a remastered version of their Japan-only bonus track “Bardo.”

The band’s new tour will feature support from Midwest slowgaze band Forever Becoming. One of the band’s most recent performances included a memorial for former Cave In bassist Caleb Scofield.

Members of Pelican and Sunn O))) formed a new band called This White Light last November, who premiered a new track simple entitled “The House.” Bryan Herweg, Pelican’s bassist, is one of This White Light’s members in the new metal supergroup.

Although the band has taken a slight hiatus with releasing music as Pelican, the band members have been involved with various side projects throughout the years. Pelican’s guitarist Trevor Shelley de Brauw was even involved with the release of a solo project back in 2017.

“I do a considerable number of bands and most of them are pretty free form, so the composition will have a flexible format and there’s space for free interpretation,”de Brauw explained in an interview with Noisey back in 2013.” Pelican obviously is an entity where things are rigid and defined, and everything is really plotted out, which is almost counterintuitive given how we’re all spread out.”

These side projects differ a bit from Pelican’s unique sound, who’s earlier releases featured a heavy DIY aesthetic still associated with the band to this day. Although Pelican are considered as “metal, de Brauw explains that he doesn’t like labeling his music.

“I think people use genres and tags to serve a purpose – it gives people a frame of reference to understand music by – but I don’t think any artist feels comfortable being tagged as anything,” he explained in an interview with Drowned in Sound. “I have an affinity for metal, but I don’t think of Pelican as a metal band. So when people call us ‘instrumetal’, or post-metal, or metalcore or whatever.”

Pelican Tour Dates

6/20 Loving Touch – Ferndale, MI w/ Greet Death
6/21 Lee’s Palace – Toronto, ON
6/22 Bar de Ritz – Montreal, QC
6/23 Great Scott – Boston, MA
6/24 Brooklyn Bazaar – Brooklyn, NY w/ Planning For Burial
6/25 Boot & Saddle – Philadelphia, PA w/ Planning For Burial
6/26 Ottobar – Baltimore, MD
6/27 Club Café – Pittsburgh, PA
6/28 Northside Yacht Club – Cincinnati, OH
6/29/2019 Metro – Chicago, IL w/ Young Widows

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat