Tusk: The Resisting Dreamer

Pelican's latest, City Of Echoes, was a muddy disappointment. But instead of exiting 2007 with a whimper, three-quarters of the band has unleashed The Resisting Dreamer, a new disc from their side project, Tusk. Sadly, it isn't much better than Echoes, but there's no expectation, and that sense of what-the-fuck-ever fun is a welcome change from Pelican's gravity. Not that Dreamer is lightweight: Its four long songs seethe and sprawl like blobs of magma across the ocean floor. Darker and looser than Pelican, the record trades in coarse ambience and thoroughly un-metal riffs that resemble a torturously distended Jesus Lizard. Co-vocalists Evan Patterson of Young Widows and Toby Driver of Kayo Dot are added for atmosphere more than anything else, although their growls—like the band's murky guitars and throbbing rhythms—liquefy together with horrific chemistry.