The twelfth show of the Nighttime Stories tour took place at the Grog Shop, a venue that has played host to many, many memorable Pelican shows over our nearly 20 year tenure. This night was no exception, as we were joined by our great friends Bloodiest and Six Kills Nine. Moreover, this leg of the tour - four shows in the Midwest over the course of a long weekend - kicked off with Trevor crushing a fingertip on his left hand while loading amps into the practice room two days before hitting the road. For this jaunt we enlisted the talents of our longtime friend and erstwhile live sound collaborator Matt Hannigan, who has a habit of recording multitrack audio of the shows he mixes. On listening back to the recordings, we were particularly into this one: it seems to really capture the excitement and energy of the night (and tour, overall).

The last time Pelican put an album out, there was still only one Avengers movie. A lot has happened to the members of the Chicago/L.A. instrumetal quartet since theт - side and solo projects, the deaths of family members and former bandmates, the birth of children. It’s heavy stuff. And Nighttime Stories is a heavy record. Maybe their heaviest to date, despite its titular promise of soothing sleepytime music. With titles taken from lyrics by Jody Minnoch (the late frontman of guitarist Trevor de Brauw’s Tusk project), compositions by newest member Dallas Thomas (of the Swan King) and production courtesy of Sanford Parker (who helmed their first two releases), their sixth LP is both a look at where they’ve been and a guide towards the future…

This is a deluxe reissue of Pelican’s 2013 album Forever Becoming, featuring vastly improved mix and mastering of the original songs replete with a revised version of the previously Japan-only bonus track “Bardo.” Initially recorded by Chris Common under optimal conditions at Chicago’s Electrical Audio, Forever Becoming was mixed in less-than-ideal circumstances at a makeshift studio in Los Angeles, yielding mixes that varnished the incredible tones generated during tracking. When the subject of a vinyl repress came up, Common, now helming his own proper studio, asked for another crack at mixing the album. The result brings a new level of low end depth, atmospheric clarity, and tight, punchy heaviness to the album.