City of Echoes
City of Echoes | ||||
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Chicago, Illinois | ||||
Genre | Post-metal, post-rock | |||
Length | 42:28 | |||
Label | Hydra Head Records (HH666-124) | |||
Producer | Andrew Schneider | |||
Pelican chronology | ||||
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City of Echoes is the third studio album by American post-metal band Pelican, released in June 2007 on Hydra Head Records. The album's thematic center is one of globalization; critics received this intention with varying degrees of enthusiasm.
City of Echoes was leaked onto the Internet in early 2007. Five color variations were released for the album's
Theme
Guitarist Trevor de Brauw stated that "City of Echoes is moulded by the experience of touring—the title sort of refers to the feeling you get that, although you go to a lot of different places, one of the effects of
On a more literal level, Laurent Lebec states that "I had no idea where we were going with the music when we started doing these songs [...] [t]he changes were pretty subconscious at first, then looking back we realized what was happening and we just went with it." He continues to add "when we were touring for our last album, The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw, even if we had a 75-minute-long set, we could only play five songs because they were all so long, and that can be tiring for an audience."[3] They are also intent on making it clear that the album is not simply negative in message. "The title also pays tribute to how amazing touring most often feels. It's also a tribute to the joy that burns inside when you reach a place and people who don't speak your language are rooting for your songs and welcoming you into their unique environment".[2]
Music videos
Due in part to the album's shorter song lengths, City of Echoes marks the music video debut of Pelican. Its first release, premiered on May 15, 2008 through the Headbangers Blog, would be for "Dead Between the Walls." Directed by David Kleiler, it was intended as an homage to Kyuss’ "Green Machine" video with "sand, fast cars, blistering colors, and just a focus on rockin’." It features the band performing in a sunny California desert and humorously plays on the concept of their purely instrumental band; as the video reaches the end, a bearded man with a microphone approaches the group and, to his disappointment, stands ready to sing just as the song ends.[4] "Dead Between the Walls" found moderate airplay on Headbangers Ball in 2008.
"Lost in the Headlights" would make for a second video and storyline sequel of sorts to its predecessor. It was shot on the rooftops of downtown LA at night and in the Angeles National Forest by Kenneth Thomas' Scrouge Productions. The video begins with the same bearded man, regarded as "some jackass taking up precious screen time," watching the end of the previous video on a household TV set. Visibly annoyed, he grabs his microphone stand and again begins searching for Pelican. The man searches throughout the video and indeed finds the group but never manages to perform with them. This video debuted on November 13, 2008 on the Headbangers Blog and made its on-air premiere two nights later on Headbangers Ball.[5]
Reception
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Alarm | (Positive) |
Pitchfork Media | (4.4/10)[8] |
Spin | [9] |
Stylus | B−[10] |
Terrorizer | [citation needed] |
Reviews for City of Echoes were mixed but generally positive. Guitarist Laurent Schroeder-Lebec has described it as their "pop album," in reference to the fact that it classifies as their most accessible to a mainstream audience. As such, it can be differentiated from earlier material as it consists of "shorter songs and expanded catchiness."[11] Tom Lynch of Newcity Chicago describes is as a "colossal departure, a seemingly blatant shun of everything that came before. But not necessarily in a bad way".[12] To that end, it has been praised as a rarity, as an instrumental album "you actually want to listen to over and over again".[13] A Spin review attributed this to a "maturer" approach, "with the title track and the strongly melodic "Bliss in Concrete" achieving in five- or six-minute mini epics what used to take the band twice the time and effort."[9]
The album's message was one decrying globalization, yet some critics were disappointed with the results. Joe McLaughlin notes: "when Pelican claim the record focuses on the 'homogenous effects of globalization', I think I am excused in wanting a touch more than an intricate guitar riff and a thumping bass line to ponder over [...] I struggle to gain a tangible meaning solely from crashing cymbals underpinning distorted guitars."[14]
Much criticism has been leveled at the drumming of Larry Herweg, with Grayson Currin writing for
Track listing
All songs written by Pelican.
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Bliss in Concrete" | 5:30 |
2. | "City of Echoes" | 7:06 |
3. | "Spaceship Broken - Parts Needed" | 6:04 |
4. | "Winds with Hands" | 3:57 |
5. | "Dead Between the Walls" | 5:06 |
6. | "Lost in the Headlights" | 4:10 |
7. | "Far from Fields" | 5:18 |
8. | "A Delicate Sense of Balance" | 5:24 |
Personnel
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Chart positions
Chart (2007) | Peak position |
---|---|
US | 9 |
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[19] | 40 |
References
- ^ Diver, Mike (March 27, 2007). "Pelican: "We're neither trend setters nor trend followers"". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on May 23, 2007. Retrieved March 29, 2007.
- ^ a b Scott, Thill (June 11, 2007). "Echoes in the Noise: An Interview with Pelican". Morphizm. Retrieved February 6, 2008.
- ^ Harris, Chris; Wiederhorn, John (May 18, 2007). "Pelican Getting Sick Of Weezer Comparisons". MTV. Retrieved December 11, 2007.
- ^ "HBB Video Premiere: Pelican's 'Dead Between the Walls'". Headbangers Blog. May 15, 2008. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved December 14, 2008.
- ^ "Pelican's "Lost In The Headlights" Video Premiere this week on Headbanger's Ball". Hydra Head Records. November 11, 2008. Retrieved April 25, 2011.
- ^ a b Jurek, Thom. "City of Echoes – Pelican". AllMusic. Retrieved December 11, 2007.
- Decibel. Archived from the originalon September 18, 2007.
- ^ Pitchfork Media. Archived from the originalon December 13, 2007. Retrieved December 11, 2007.
- ^ a b Niimi, J. (July 23, 2007). "Pelican - City of Echoes". Spin. Archived from the original on August 25, 2007. Retrieved August 5, 2007.
- ^ Lee, Cosmo (June 12, 2007). "Pelican: City of Echoes". Stylus. Archived from the original on May 21, 2011. Retrieved April 26, 2011.
- ^ "City of Echoes at Shellshock". Shellshock. June 11, 2007. Retrieved August 5, 2007.
- ^ Lynch, Tom (August 21, 2007). "Echo Effect". Newcity Chicago. Archived from the original on December 3, 2008. Retrieved February 6, 2008.
- ^ Carroll, Rory. "City of Echoes Artrocker". Artrocker.com. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved August 5, 2007.
- ^ McLaughlin, Joe (June 28, 2007). "Pelican - City of Echoes". RoomThirteen.com. Retrieved August 5, 2007.
- ^ Parks, Andrew (July 2007). "Pelican". Decibel. Archived from the original on October 15, 2007. Retrieved December 11, 2007.
- ^ Bonazelli, Andrew (January 2008). "Decibel's Top 40 Albums of 2007". Decibel. Archived from the original on December 3, 2007. Retrieved December 11, 2007.
- ^ a b City of Echoes (Media notes). Pelican. Hydra Head Records. 2007. HH666-124.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ "Pelican Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
- ^ "Pelican Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved January 2, 2018.