Sunday 14 February 2016

Pigeons - The Bower, album review

Discordant Affection

It isn't easy to articulate the peculiar attraction of the discordant sound of this contemporary psyche-folk, that off-kilter sound perpetrated by the design of performance and rawness of recording. But that doesn't mean it is 'rough' - there is mild complexity in the woodwind editions/arrangements by lead singer Wednesday Knudsen, and the overdubs that exist throughout and are evident in, for example, fourth Not a Party with its lush-ish harmonies and squealing synth-sounds. Third Two Years of Land is another example of this, with saxophone added in its own naive yet impacting brevity. Knudsen sings in a 60s/70s folk simplicity which is affecting in the same way the electric guitar licks work, though these latter can be developed with echoing layers as in fifth The Mountain, and at times I hear Principal Edwards Magic Theatre, though not their ensemble playing.


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