3 out of 5

Label: Dunk!Records

Produced by: Jannes Van Rossom (recorded by)

A quality set comprised of mostly What We All Come to Need and Forever Becoming tracks – with a couple extras thrown in – Pelican’s Live at Dunk!Fest doesn’t exactly sell the non-studio experience, with some rough-around-the-edges moments while the group warms up, but once they get into the groove past the set’s midway point, it can at least be said that the group (or its touring incarnation) can replicate what we’re hearing pretty damn well. Having seen the group in their earlier years, I know that this stuff can be very powerful live, and this recording (recorded by Jannes Van Rossom, mixed by Dallas Thomas) is not always the clearest testament of that, losing fidelity when a track is especially busy, and not selling the highs or lows. However, on tracks that are generally slower and take time to build, the production works; and of course, if you’re familiar with the tracks, you’ll be able to pick up on bits that maybe aren’t helped by the recording itself.

It’s a solid batch of tracks, granted you like the sound the group was pursuing during the aforementioned albums – a more moderate, streamlined take on their heavier days on Hydra Head – and I don’t mean to dismiss the playing, which is absolutely competent throughout, with the recording appreciably editing out any extraneous banter or crowd noise. The looseness may be a preferred affect of the experience, but to me, the songs don’t necessarily benefit from this – and again, I think it’s better once the group seems to find their groove halfway through – and, in general, given that they don’t step too far off the path of the recorded versions overall, I can’t say why one might listen to this instead of the albums.

As a document of a tour and a time – maybe as a memento of a show – it definitely works. For other purposes, I’m headed back to studio versions.