by JOHNSON CUMMINS

After four releases, Pelican’s anthemic instrumental rock has definitely taken its time finding an audience, but with so many influences blurring the genre lines, and with dynamics equal parts light and dark, these Chicagoans prove to be in a league of their own. The detuned guitars may be turned up to 11, but instead of just dropping the hammer of heavy, Pelican explore far beyond discordant angst and doom while launching songs to panoramic proportions. The following is an e-mail exchange between the Mirror and guitarist Laurent Lebec.

Mirror: Given your penchant for loud, epic songs, you’ve been compared to Isis quite a bit but I hear more elements of Slint, Tar, Don Caballero and post-rockers such as godspeed! you black emperor. Do you find comparisons belittle the music a bit, or do you find it complimentary?

Laurent Lebec: Every single band you mentioned in your question means something positive to one or many of us in the band, and it’s nice to be compared to bands other than Isis. For other than us loving them as fans, we also realize that our fans have followed separate trajectories, and I think it’s lazy journalism to associate us excessively. I think Godflesh is a far greater influence on us, but then again so are Slowdive, Earth and about a zillion other things. I think we occupy a similar place to some or all of those bands, because we’re fond of working outside of the confines of traditional rock. It’s just not where we’re comfortable, so the music that comes out from our union is just a bit more organic, I think, more like the typical flow of life. Unhurried.

M: Given their epic magnitude, your songs must be really laborious to complete. Can you explain the songwriting process?

LL: We generally don’t leave much room for improvization, as far as the riffs are concerned, but we do spend quite a bit of time on transitions—nothing can feel very abrupt, or we generally go back and tweak it. I think subtle shifts are much more pleasing to our ears, so we focus on having a lot of those.

M: Was it a conscious decision to have the band remain instrumental in the beginning?

LL: No vocals was an outgrowth of not finding a vocalist at first, and then really just enjoying the way we worked with each other as a four-piece with no vocals. It became its own entity and it worked well, so we stuck with it. I don’t think we’ll use vocals beyond a layer of extra instrumentation, but it’s not anytime soon.

M: Pelican have crossed over a lot of genres with your fan base including people from metal backgrounds, experimental etc. Do you look at this as a testament to the band?

LL: I look at it as a testament to the fact that a lot of people can and want to appreciate a variety of music, but maybe feel trapped by the vocals, which tend to be the first thing that niches a band into a specific genre. I do love the fact that our crowds are diverse, and I can only hope that it continues to stay that way as our music evolves.

With Daughters, Ion Dissonance and Ken Mode at Club Soda on Saturday, Oct. 14, 8 p.m., $15

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