Daily Discovery: Pigeon – Mirror Test

Daily Discoveries

Seeing another person as energy, beyond face and name, is the idea at the centre of “Mirror Test”. Pigeon match it with a Gang of Four-inspired mutant Afro-disco track that links post-punk, punk-funk and the dancefloor as Falle Nioke sings, “You make me feel alive. I see you, like energy”.  The single comes from OUTTANATIONAL, the Margate-based quintet’s debut album, out on 1 May via Memphis Industries.

Led by Nioke on vocals and percussion, the band also count on Graham Godfrey on drums, Josh Ludlow on bass, Steve Pringle on keys and synths, and Tom Dream on guitar, crossing grunge, no wave and jazz alongside their Afro-disco roots. OUTTANATIONAL was recorded live in Kent at the Albion Rooms in Margate and Big Jelly Studios in Ramsgate.

Nioke moved from Guinea-Conakry to the UK in 2018, and OUTTANATIONAL carries the questions of identity, migration and belonging that came out of his naturalisation. He describes the album’s atmosphere in terms that fit Margate itself: “It’s like a blustery, overcast day and then you walk into the amusement arcades. It’s stimulation overload.”

Previous EPs Yagana and Backslider brought BBC 6 Music playlisting and a Glastonbury set, and “Mirror Test” now lands as a single with OUTTANATIONAL up for pre-order, and dates at Islington Assembly Hall in London on 14 March, a Manchester show at YES Basement on 14 April, and a hometown album launch at Where Else? in Margate on 1 May.