Settling On Synergy

The most offhanded endeavours can sometimes change things drastically. In Pigeon's case, a homage to French house-cum-disco maestros Daft Punk put the band in front of more people than they could have ever imagined, with the viral video – which has now been viewed via YouTube more than 350,000 times since May last year – creating the perfect online storm to build momentum for the Brisbane group's second EP, Settle In.

“We were pretty excited by putting that video out because we were into the idea of Daft Punk having a new album,” explains multi-instrumentalist Luke Cuerel. “I think it was right place, right time, and that's when we started writing this new EP, so it's been eight or nine months that we've been working on it, so it's good to finally get it out.”

Creating dancefloor beats as a traditional live band has long energised Cuerel, and it's been a great point of difference for the Queensland quintet, giving them infinite scope to play out their visions. Since Kraftwerk showed the potential of a musical autobahn in the early-'70s, electronic equipment has created limitless sonic possibilities for musicians; however, it pulls in both directions, for Pigeon at least, as one of the band's biggest problems – if you can call it that – is having too many ideas.

“We always have too many directions in which we can take something, and it takes someone taking the lead and saying, 'I want it to sound like this', or, 'I want this sound to be there', so it's pretty daunting but it's super fun because you can literally do anything and make it work,” smiles Cuerel. “But it's like having too much money or something.”

There isn't anything resembling a problem on the group's new EP, though. Settle In – the follow-up to 2012's Fortunes – is awash with warm textures and exotic tones; an intoxicating mix that could set the mood for sunset or sunrise, depending on how far you want to take it. The five-piece took care of every element for the release, recording, producing, mixing and mastering out of their Brisbane HQ, Acolyte Studios. This allowed their own flavour to completely absorb into the blend without any outside opinions spiking the punch.

“I don't think we trust many other people, well… not trust, but you kinda want to get from start to finish by yourself, and I think it's a really good thing to do,” Cuerel enthuses. “I definitely think we've learnt a lot out of doing it ourselves. I don't really do too much of the producing, I'm just the sax player, but I've learnt a lot about the recording process and mixing and mastering. I didn't really know what mastering was until I joined the band and realised it's a bit of a dark art.”

But before the music finds cohesion in the form of a song, the Pigeon boys work up their own ideas individually. The band don't jam a lot, a surprise considering their live show is on lock. What they do instead is swap their ideas with one another, allowing any creative barriers to be quickly removed.

“Because we all listen to a whole bunch of different things, you will write [a song] and be influenced by one person, then [another] person will have a go at it and they'll be influenced by something totally different,” he says. “We've always been into Friendly Fires, Röyksopp, and Rüfüs, Gold Fields, all those kind of things. But there was a bunch of new bands that popped up [during writing] which we started really liking like World's End Press, and because it's such an evolving and growing scene it's really exciting to see someone doing something similar to you, but in a completely different way.”

Catching the final month of summer with these Settle In launch dates, Pigeon are trying to capture that vibe with their live show – something that looks good and feels good. “What we try to do live is that real tropical yet stupidly epic party thing – I don't know if that's summery or not,” Cuerel chuckles.

It also provides the guys a chance to slip into different personas, ones far more wild than reality. “We just try and make [our shows] super energetic. It's always pretty fun to rip out a massive synth riff; we try and bring that out occasionally. We're all pretty nerdy I guess so it's fun to be party for a little bit. We play and we're loose cannons, then we go back to playing on computers, making synths and listening to jazz.”