HomeMusicThe Pigeon Detectives - We Met At Sea album review

The Pigeon Detectives – We Met At Sea album review

The Pigeon Detectives are a band who hail from Rothwell in West Yorkshire. They are known for they down-to-earth and northern sense of humour, one quote from the band which made us laugh a lot was when asked about how their band name came about, they quipped to BBC Sound ‘Dave breeds pigeons and there’s a pigeon that lives in a shed, thats his special pigeon and this pigeon actually writes all the songs”. Having sold over 500, 000 albums, The Pigeon Detectives are back with their first release in two years, with their new album called We Met At Sea. They have been playing the live scene relentlessly and have therefore forged themselves a sterling live reputation, which is ideal for people like us, who love to watch live guitar bands!

The album opens up with a track called Animal, which has a distinct Arctic Monkeys feel to it, with the accent being very prominent and it munches its way around the song. The band are sounding pretty confident on I Won’t Come Back, which is a very rocky sounding and the chorus is very punchy and sharp. A lot of the lyrics on this album seem to be about women/dating/relationships and analysis and there are a lot of similar themes, such as ‘you said and I said’ and then analysing and singing about what happened next. You only need to listen to male lyrics these days, to realise that men analyse and talk about their thoughts and feelings, as much as women do – whether they admit it or not in person, is another thing!

A song which took us by surprise is Light Me Up, which has the hallmarks of funk stamped all over it and it is like nothing else on the album. We think that it’s a very smart move to throw in a funk-inspired rock track as it sounds very original. The song makes us think of an indie-charged Prince, if you can imagine that? If Prince was ever to release an indie record, it would sound like this song! The “I will follow you, anywhere you want me to” is a shouty sing-a-long line from Light Me Up, what a wonderful tune. Unforgettable is another great indie-rock song and we love the drum opening.

A lot of the songs on the album sound pretty similar to each other, but we guess that is the Pigeons’ sound and there is nothing wrong with this, but Light Me Up was such a nice surprise and a stand-out song, that it would’ve been great to have had a few more different sounding tracks, to give the album a bit of variation., which is just a tiny criticism that we have. Having said that, all of the songs on the album are very strong sounding and this album sounds more rugged and real than their previous offerings, which have been sprayed by indie polish. The sound engineer of the album is Andy Hawkins, who helped them to achieve the raw and rugged sounding indie-poppy-rock tracks on this album. This is a really great album release from The Pigeon Detectives and you’ll love this album if you are a big fan of bands such as the Kaiser Chiefs and Arctic Monkeys and indie bands in general, as this is a great album that fits perfectly into that mould.

Carys Jones
Carys Jones
I am passionate about everything any anything that involves music, theatre and the arts! I love interviewing artists and getting to learn more about them. When I’m not doing artsy things, you may find me watching rugby, singing with my choir and travelling to a new part of the world. Carpe diem.

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