Pigeon - OUTTANATIONAL

Understanding a project like Pigeon begins with suspending yourself from reality for a moment. Self-described as from outer space, more like Margate, UK, if you want to get technical, but close enough, the eclectic five-piece creates from an instinctual impulse. It makes all the more sense that OUTTANATIONAL, their debut LP, rides with feel rather than thought, but that descriptor might even do a disservice to a thoughtful body of work that keeps you guessing at every turn.

Delivered with a stream-of-consciousness flow, “Miami,” one of the more spirited tracks here, throws a jittery synth lead over singer/percussionist Falle Nioke’s images of escapism: “It’s bright/It is the sun/That is so Miami!” That, in a nutshell, represents the fluidity that courses through the band’s vision. But there’s also profundity to be found in Nioke’s lyrical idiosyncrasies. “I am a Black James Dean/Put me in your magazine,” he defiantly proclaims over charging krautrock on “Black James Dean,” which the born-and-raised Guinean felt compelled to respond to after a Margate local referred to him as a “black gypsy.” Whereas on the steady protest of “Hype Prototype,” Nioke wonders, “Where can I just be myself,” over in the pocket disco funk and searing Prince-like riffs. True to their word, their stylish meld of influences offers a kaleisdoscopic effect that sounds otherworldly.

While he taps into many musical influences on OUTTANATIONAL, Nioke commits to honouring his West African roots on “Caramel.” “Thanks to our ancestors/Give them the paradise,” he intones, his voice filtered through a cosmic layer of distortion and haunting piano. The album’s sobering conclusion feels like a respite from the frenzy that preceded it, serving as a spiritual meditation on heritage and continuity. The energy he and his bandmates emanate, all of whom relate in being transplants, feels true to the group consciousness they preach.

OUTTANATIONAL is out now via Memphis Industries.