Impressive Wingspan

"We were looking at new covers for this set and we decided to do a Daft Punk medley. And, then, they announced a new album and just everyone was posting about it,” Cuerel says of the Airlie connection. “We decided to see if we could capitalise on it, not really expecting much. We just did a video and put it up. We weren't expecting heaps of views.”

That clip has gone on to be viewed nearly 300,000 times in roughly three months. It's been a massive increase in exposure for the Brisbane outfit. Into that maelstrom, Pigeon have bravely decided to release a new single – Curtain Call. A darker, more complex take on the group's eclectic, breezy sound, Curtain Call wouldn't have been an easy sell to Pigeon's existing fanbase. Cuerel admits they weren't sure how it was going to be received by their new followers.

“Yeah, that was pretty interesting, actually. Obviously, we didn't expect that medley to take off as much as it did,” the trumpeter says. “[The reception]'s been really, really good, though. We kind of put it out as a bit of a YOLO. See what could happen. It's a bit different to lot of our other stuff and we had no idea what would happen with it.

“We've had a lot of good feedback, though. After we did that Daft Punk medley, we got a lot of new fans and it's been really exciting to be able to show them a new single and have them really respond to it. It's been exciting to watch it spread.”

Of course, Pigeon's career has always moved at a surprisingly cracking pace. They've only been a band since 2011, and in that time, they've performed at Splendour in the Grass, Parklife, BigSound and Peats Ridge. They've already released two EPs to considerable critical acclaim. They're currently assembling a third.

“We started two-and-a-half years ago... [But] I don't think we really settled on a particular genre until about a year ago. It's pretty excited to look forward,” Cuerel says. “We released four tunes last year and that was really exciting because it was the first release we had in the style that we're still doing today. That fun, electro-pop, party vibe kind of stuff.”

Rather than a team of producers, Pigeon are very much a band. They've inherited all of the complex politics of a band dynamic, as well. Really, it's remarkable they've accomplished anything, dealing with the clusterfuck that is five members with shared writing duties.

“Writing's always been hard because we all have massively different opinions. It never really works when we get together and throw ideas at each other,” Cuerel says. “It works better when one of us brings an idea to the group and we workshop it and add in our own ideas. Someone will take those ideas and go off and put their own spin on it. Someone else will throw in a new idea.

“It's less of an all-at-the-same-time thing vibe and more of a 'someone start something' and we'll go from there. I think we're all into too many different styles to really get a cohesive idea off the ground right from the get go.”

Still, Curtain Call is a definite progression for the group. Splicing together a handful of different directions, Pigeon's latest single is still a slick, memorable piece of work. Yet Cuerel still has no idea if it's what their next EP will sound like.

“I'm honestly not sure. We're just experimenting with a bunch of stuff trying to get a feel for what's going on,” he says. “We're looking at being a bit more cohesive than we have been with our other stuff. This was just an experiment to see how we'd go with this style. It's quite a dark track for us. I think the rest of the EP will be more up-tempo.”

The band began with a relatively simple mantra and have only been attempting to build on that momentum with their career. Formed to play a particularly unusual house party, Pigeon enjoyed the experience so much they decided to see if they could take things further.

“We first started because we wanted to play a body paint party. It was awesome. Such a good party. Heaps going on, heaps of different music, lots of topless women. So, yeah, that was the basis of the band,” Cuerel chuckles. “We kept it going because we just wanted to keep having fun. We really liked playing that party music, we liked helping people have a good time. And that's basically it for the band, I think. Just having fun and helping other people have fun.”