Lone Pigeon - 'Concubine Rice' (Sketchbook)
3/5
By: Matt Tomiak
Lone Pigeon are not in fact a collective, instead such a title serving as the moniker for an enigmatic Scottish solo-artist (his real name doesn't appear anywhere on this record, quite mysteriously) who was, apparently, a founding member of the Beta Band.
'Concubine Rice' is the fruits of the endeavours resulting from both himself and his chums' bands, all of whom incidentally possess equally peculiar names: take your pick from The Fat Messiah, Captain Geeko & The Dead Aviator or Chicken n' Chips. Together, this unlikely tribe are all part of Fife's Fence label: the north-of-the-border equivalent of our own none-more-indie Twisted Nerve. Topping it off, the cover of the album shows a 70s-style flower-pressing, whilst the inner sleeve has hand-drawn pictures of some of the contributing artistes. Classy.
By the time you finally manage to scan past such information, you may find a moment to pop on the music as well. You'll soon discover that preceding each of the thirteen tracks proper is a series of short interludes. Does any of this bear a resemblance to the work of a certain woolly hat wearing, Nick Hornby film-soundtracking, Manc troubadour..?
Actually, though, Lone Pigeon almost certainly would not object to the title of 'The Scottish Badly Drawn Boy'; indeed, he does deal in the quirky and pleasantly wistful, such as on the opening title-track and 'Heaven Come Down'. But the downbeat 'Beatmix Chocbar Wrap' jilts your expectations along the way, being really very Arab Strab, 'Old Mr. Muncherman' showing a nice line in Beach Boys-esque harmonising, meanwhile.
Pleasingly off-kilter and reassuringly multifarious, Lone Pigeon is a warmingly odd addition to a very presently odd musical-time where, seemingly, almost anything goes.
Artists in this article: Lone Pigeon
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