Margate-Upon-Guinea: Pigeon and the rise of pub psychedelia
Psychedelia, going right back to its roots in the counterculture age of the 1960s, has always conjured up pastoral images of rolling fields, Itchycoo Park, and kaleidoscopic images running freely in the sky, with or without diamonds.
In other words, the stuffy dark wood interior of a traditional British pub is about as far away as you can get from psychedelia. Yet, one of the finest psychedelic bands of 21st-century Britain was born, not in a sunshine superman acid trip or desert peyote ritual, but in the back room of an old pub in Margate. This is the vibrant and ever-expanding realm of Pigeon.
Some of Earth’s greatest cultural contributions have been forged over a pint of warm bitter, under the low ceiling of a pub. The real power of those establishments, though, is the fact that they shut. Inevitably, that means young revellers, half-cut on cheap lager and Scampi Fries, need somewhere to continue their jubilation after last orders have been called. In the case of Pigeon, that post-pub ritual took them back to one of their houses for late-night, impromptu, and improvisational jam sessions.
Another crucial power of the pub is that all walks of life can be found within those beer-stained walls, which is perhaps how members of Michael Kiwanuka’s backing band began to forge a new musical connection with the clientele of that Margate boozer, including the Guinea-born Falle Nioke, who acts as the supreme, often confrontational, frontman of Pigeon.
Eventually, the band’s post-pub psychedelic jam sessions morphed into an expansive sound drawing upon everything from punk and new wave to Afro funk and the traditional folk rhythms of Nioke’s West African homeland.
All of that, coupled with the psych undertones which have been evergreen for the group, culminated in the masterful debut release Yagana back in 2022, via the legendary label Soundway, which should give some indication of the border-defying sound encased within the EP’s grooves.
Given the various other external projects Pigeon’s line-up are involved in, it is unsurprising that their discography thus far has been rather sporadic. Another EP followed in 2023, and then radio silence for nearly three full years before the group returned earlier this year with Outtanational, a masterpiece of a debut album that was inarguably worth the extensive waiting period.
As you might expect, given the length of time between their first EP and the release of that debut album, the group’s sound has developed a lot during that period. On tracks like ‘Black James Dean’, being the stand-out from the LP, the group imbue their Afrobeat and funk leanings with a distinctive punk confrontation, coupled with just enough disco to make the track a certified floor-filler.
Throughout it all, though, from Yagana to Outtanational, Pigeon have managed to retain the sense of spontaneity, unpredictability, and freedom which undoubtedly came from their post-pub jam sessions during those very early days.
As any producer will gladly tell you, translating those free-and-easy, spontaneous psychedelic jam sessions into studio recordings is no easy task, but listening to Pigeon’s LP, the listener could almost be sat there in that Margate boozer alongside the band – such is the power of Pigeon, and the power of pub psychedelia.
