3 out of 5

Label: Southern Lord

Producer: Pelican

Is it wrong that once Pelican went over to their 3-minute song Southern Lord format that my interest sorta dwindled?  I get that it’s hard to write within a similar formula for every album – lumbering, long instrumental hard rock tracks – but the group did grow from EP to album to album fer sure.  And the SL debut has some great tracks, it just doesn’t amp me up in the same way the band used to, since it’s definitely shifted – both in recording and playing style – to a more traditional instrumental sound, ditching the sludge for cleaner licks.

Ataraxia slots in with that feeling, but isolating its two main tracks between beginning and ending codas distills it further. although ‘Taraxis’ is a good closer.  This also feels like the most laid back Pelican recording ever, the stripping away and shifting off a main riff technique that they’ve used since day one just sounding rather predictable here, because it comes across without much oomph.  This seems to be as a result of the sequencing – opening with slow sound-based ‘Ataraxia’ and then starting the following track off similarly slow (even though it builds effectively) just doesn’t hit the listener too well.  Like a lot of stylistic shifts for bands, if I put on new ears when listening to the EP it’s a lot better, but thinking of this as Pelican makes it just sorta mundane.  Which I’m sure is frustrating, that feeling of alienating a listener when you’re just trying to grow as a group, but this doesn’t feel like growth so much as comfort.  The full SL album, while maybe not my favorite, has more inspiration behind it.  This EP feels somewhat tossed together.  Totally competent, the group obviously playing in stride, but I don’t think I’ll be headbanging to this one.