Pelican / Mono
Split
Hydrahead / Temporary Residence Ltd
Joint instrumental telepathy
It’s getting harder and harder these days to tell the floor wax from the dessert topping. To wit: Is Pelican an avant-metal band dabbling in post-rock dynamics? Is Mono a post-rock band that occasionally cranks up the avant-metal scree? Is there really a difference any more? These questions hit home with this gorgeously packaged (duh), hypnotic new split LP featuring both bands. Naturally, it’s a limited edition; mine’s on translucent gold vinyl, same as the copy of Styx’s Pieces of Eight I lifted from the public library in high school. (And no, you can’t have it.)
Pelican’s contribution opens with a stretch of piano noodling that might make you wonder if you’ve played the other band’s side first. From there, “Ran Amber” gives way to a sweetly melodic waltz with pleasantly blurry edges; electric guitars goose the drums toward the finish line, but never harsh the mellow. A stuttering, distorted James Plotkin remix of “Angel Tears” sounds like the band’s latest CD spun on cheap-ass Radio Shack gear.
For their part, Mono stick close to the minimalist driftworks they perfected on their latest full-length, Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined. Like a symphony in reverse, “Yearning” begins in repose, slams into leaden thump and shimmering haze, then flows once more into quietude. Play it on violins and add a singing hobo, and it might be Gavin Bryars. Sumptuous and affirmative.
—Steve Smith
