New Audio: Chicago’s Pelican Shares Cinematic and Expansive “Cascading Crescent”

Flickering Resonance is the Chicago-based outfit Pelican‘s first full-length album in six years. Slated for a May 16, 2025 release through Run for Cover, the album sees the return of founding guitarist Laurent Schroeder-Lebec, who makes his first appearance on a Pelican album since 2009’s What We All Come To Need. The eight-song album also reportedly taps into the spirit of the band’s formative era when Schroder-Lebec along with Trevor Shelley de Brauw (guitar) and siblings Bryan (bass) and Larry Herweg (drums) played shows during the heyday of Chicago’s all-ages club Fireside Bowl.

Fireside Bowl’s booking would often result in post-hardcore, space rock, indie, metal and emo bands sharing bills, which also unwittingly provided a vast array of influences for the then-young band. “A lot of people didn’t hear it at first,” says Schroeder-Lebec of the band’s roots in a panoply of punk-related subgenres. “I was like, well, I guess the metal world is where we fit. But now we’re more willing to acknowledge all the suits we’re wearing.”

Recorded by longtime collaborator Sanford Parker, Flickering Resonance sees the band’s long-known thick sonic backbone remaining intact, but while demonstrating a more humanistic side for the band.

“When Laurent left and we were able to carry it through, there became a real sense of gratitude for the fact we still have this artistic outlet and a community of people who want to support it,” the band’s Shelley de Brauw says of Schroeder-Lebec’s ten year sabbatical from the group. Fittingly, that feeling o deep, grounded appreciation doesn’t just reside within the band’s members, it’s expressed on every track of the album.

The album’s latest single “Cascading Crescent” is a forceful, cinematic and yet soulful ripper that reminds me a bit of The Sword and others, anchored around some scorching riffage and thunderous drumming.
 
The members of the Chicago-based band will be embarking on a lengthy touring schedule to support the album that includes a July 20, 2025 stop at The Meadows. Check out the rest of the tour dates below.

Pelican tour dates
 
Mar 2 Louisville, KY – Whirling Tiger
Mar 3 St. Louis, MO – Delmar *
Mar 5 Denton,TX – Rubber Gloves *
Mar 6 Austin, TX – Mohawk *
Mar 8 Tucson, AZ – Wired Fest at Rialto Theatre *
Mar 9 Los Angeles, CA – The Regent *
Mar 10 Santa Ana, CA – The Observatory *
Mar 11 Felton, CA – Felton Music Hall
Mar 12 San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore *
Mar 13 Sacramento, CA – Ace of Spades *
Mar 15 Portland, OR – Revolution Hall * SOLD OUT
Mar 16 Seattle, WA – Showbox *
Mar 17 Boise, ID – Knitting Factory *
Mar 18 Salt Lake City, UT – Metro Music Hall *
Mar 19 Englewood, CO – Gothic *
Mar 21 Omaha, NE – Slowdown *
Mar 22 Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line * SOLD OUT
 
Jul 17 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom +
Jul 18 Washington, DC – DC9 +
Jul 19 Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts +
Jul 20 Brooklyn, NY – The Meadows +
Jul 21 Boston, MA – The Sinclair +
Jul 22 Montreal, QC – Bar le Ritz PDB +
Jul 23 Toronto, ON – Lee’s Palace +
Jul 24 Grand Rapids, MI – Pyramid Scheme +
Jul 25 – Indianapolis, IN – POST Fest +
Jul 26 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall +
 
Aug 8 Jaromer, CZ – Brutal Assault Festival
Aug 9 Sinzendorf, DE – Void Fest
Aug 10 Bochum, DE – Bahnhof Langendreer
Aug 11 Tilburg, NL – Hall of Fame
Aug 12 London, UK – The Dome
Aug 13 Manchester, UK – YES
Aug 14 Bristol, UK – Arctangent Festival
Aug 16 Carhaix Plouguer, FR – Motocultor Festival
 
* supporting Russian Circles
+ with Porcelain