Pigeon Park Album Review
Aside from the promising intro on Lovelight leading me far, far astray, Pigeon Park’s most recent self-titled album is a blur of Pearl Jam, The Black Keys and your other favorite alternative band. Until the saving grace which is Statues of Feathers at track 6, the occasional golden guitar solo is all that sticks out from the blues riffs and decent melodies. Overall, the quality of the sound is great, but it fails to capture the energy I am sure these guys are capable of. While the band doesn’t fail in showing off their individual talent, (especially the lead guitarist) as a whole there is no real “Wow!” moment to this album. They don’t hesitate in getting started- the jams and groovy riffs are there- but it never really takes off. In fact, when I thought I was prepared for the peak of the song, they often backed off. The band has a great overall sound but I feel like I’m being held back from really jammin’ out to these guys.
While the first track, Lovelight, (which boasts a decent video) shows some real potential, the next two tracks are all but run-of-the-mill blues rock tunes. At times I got the feeling of 80’s hair metal but some really impressive guitar work and the beginning of track 3 had me ready for their punk influences. Instead, I’m faced with these continual (-ly annoying) half-time drops on Only Us Fools which left me feeling like I just listened to The Boss cover a Pearl Jam song with Boston backing. I thought about Pearl Jam a lot while listening to this album…sigh.
Trudging past the halfway mark on this 6-track mash-up of influences, you’ll find that track 5 really shines. Slightly gritty, overdriven vocals, and a very nice progressive change of pace halfway through. Though the straightforward tone of the song carries a familiar air of catchiness, reminiscent of…well, Pearl jam, it at least brings with it warm vocal melodies that actually overshadow the heavy mainstream influence. I was falsely surprised when they didn’t jump straight into a traditional blues jam…until the very end of the song. Immediately let down by the final track, It’s Not That Likely, I found myself wondering why this song was included in this album. It was too short, and it stuck out as a quick departure from their style. Until I heard this song I was going to mention Nickelback at a few points, but I’m glad I didn’t.
Overall, it was the surprisingly badass lead guitars that kept me listening past the 1 minute mark on most tracks. However, the predictable lyrics and uninteresting melodies found me wanting to fast-forward through the other three tracks. In fact, songs like Lovelight , Hopeless and Statue of Feathers have some really killer jams and some catchy, heavy riffs but overall this lacks that aftertaste of originality that makes it memorable. I can hear the heaviness, I can almost feel the groove at some points but it just doesn’t do it for me. I bet these guys would be great live though. I can see this album really hitting home base with fans of this contemporary blues rock scene that’s really catching on in places like Austin, or even those beginning to veer off the mainstream into the local/indie/rock scene. This has such great potential and I’ll definitely be looking for a local show to catch them at. I say 6/10.
