* En anglais uniquement
Pigeons are an experimental indie pop group hailing from the Bronx, New York. Their music is a hazy brand of lo-fi psych-folk inspired by French pop music, often incorporating flutes, drum machines, and guitar feedback, although the group's later recordings have displayed tighter musicianship and songwriting. The group's lineup has shifted over the years, and has included members of well-known experimental groups
No-Neck Blues Band and
Pelt, but the core of the group has always been guitarist/vocalist Wednesday Knudsen and multi-instrumentalist Clark Griffin, both of whom have participated in experimental collective the Sea Donkeys.
Pigeons debuted in the mid-2000s with a series of limited tapes and lathe-cut vinyl releases on Clark Griffin's Moran Tape Label. The group's debut LP, Virgin Spectacle, was released in 2008 by engineer
Jason Meagher's Black Dirt Records, and featured Carter Thornton of Enos Slaughter as a bandmember. The group then signed to Minneapolis-based label Soft Abuse and released 7" EP Lunettes in 2009. The year 2010 began with the release of LP
Si Faustine on Olde English Spelling Bee, as well as a tape released by blog Chocolate Bobka (as part of their Curatorial Club series). Thornton left the band, and the group released two 7"s (
Visions of the Valley on Soft Abuse and Hearts on Olde English Spelling Bee) and a full-length (
Liasons on Soft Abuse) as a duo, all during 2010.
The group expanded its lineup in 2011, including
Meagher as a bandmember as well as drummer Ben Bogan (additionally,
Nathan Bowles of
Black Twig Pickers,
Spiral Joy Band, and
Pelt joined the group during live performances). Japanese label Sixteen Tambourines released
Pigeons' limited cassette No Shore in July of 2011. Full-length LP They Sweetheartstammers arrived on Soft Abuse toward the end of the year, and featured a heavier, more psychedelic sound than their previous recordings. Following this album, the group's rhythm section joined
Steve Gunn's backing band, and Knudsen and Griffin moved from the Bronx to upstate New York. Knudsen participated in the full-length debut by Black Dirt Oak, an experimental folk supergroup features
Bowles and
Gunn as well as members of
the Suntanama,
No-Neck Blues Band, and several other groups. Rob Smith of Rhyton became
Pigeons' new drummer, and the trio recorded their fifth LP, The Bower, in 2014, mixed by
Meagher at his Black Dirt Studio. MIE Music released the LP in spring of 2015, followed later in the summer by "Buoy," a 7" single on Soft Abuse. ~ Paul Simpson