Pelican & Jaye Jayle played Great Scott – 10/8

Illinois instrumental metal masters Pelican headlined a sold-out Sunday night show at Great Scott last weekend with Young Widows leader Evan Patterson’s Jaye Jayle and French musician Marc Euvrie’s solo project The Eye of Time. 

Euvrie‘s one-man orchestra of guitar, cello, keys and samples led the night with a dose of evocative, classically-informed post-rock. Jaye Jayle, who currently count Sargent House label-mate Emma Ruth Rundle as a member of the touring lineup, were on next. I’ve seen Patterson’s gothic rock outfit a number of times now (often at Great Scott, actually), and they’re never anything short of transfixing. Propulsive songs about the devil and death by car crash abounded, and this time around the band’s moody sound struck me as a prime candidate for a Twin Peaks season four Roadhouse band. (Among many other gifts offered by “The Return,” those unexpected weekly musical cameos bring us a new descriptor for a live act; you know a Roadhouse Band when you see one).

Pelican closed things out with a loud and furious set to make up for a four-year absence from Boston. The band played a number of new songs, and guitarist Trevor de Brauw promised that a record was on the horizon. New or old, Pelican’s heavy instrumental jams sound best up close and on stage. It was a pleasure to have them back there.

Check out photos from all three sets below.