Margate five-piece Pigeon make music that sprawls and mutates. Afro-disco, krautrock, punk-funk, post-punk: all of it is in there, somehow, but it never feels like genre tourism. It just feels alive.
A lot of that is down to vocalist Falle Nioke, who moves between French, English, Susu, Fulani, Malinke and Coniagui within a single song, rooted in the West African griot tradition and sung entirely on instinct.
He relocated from Guinea-Conakry to the UK in 2018, and the bandâs newly released debut album âOUTTANATIONALâ was written while he was going through the naturalisation process. Itâs music about migration, belonging and the strange experience of building a new home without losing the old one. âNow Iâm pleased to be part of both homesâ, he says. âOne side is Africa. The other side is hereâ.
Opener âNRGâ sets the tone with an afrobeat intro and Falle Nioke warding off evil spirits over a locked-in bassline; âBlack James Deanâ goes full gothic post-punk; closer âCaramelâ sprawls into something psychedelic and almost devotional. In between, it never puts a foot wrong.
Upcoming shows include Rough Trade East on 7 May, The Great Escape on 14 May and End Of The Road Festival in September. If you can get to any of them, go.