ALBUM: Terror Pigeon ‘Yucksongs! 2014 : (‘

What just happened?
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So you think you’re ready for the randomness of Terror Pigeon’s Yucksongs! 2014 : (. The haphazard song titles give you a hint of what might be in store, but you’re wrong! Nothing can prepare you for the chaotic maelstrom of video-game synths and the badly recorded voice memos of mastermind, Neil Fridd. Get set to lose your marbles. Completely.

‘Ghost Stories Over Girls’ High School 1’ is the cover-judging starter that masks the erratic main course, with its subdued vocal layers and unadorned percussion. From here on, we are shoved towards the random whirlpool where folksy vocals meet with R ‘n’ B drum loops and brass overtones. Confused yet? This is only track two.

Almost all of the songs, ‘Hair Reprise’ being one of them, build into a crescendo of jumping beans and yet end so suddenly. You just get used to the idea and then it’s gone and you’re onto the next one, like an unrehearsed recording.

There are some less erratic songs on the album. ‘The Internet’, for example, is the modern day love song equivalent, highlighting how we fill the loveless void with technology having actually made no physical contact. “Your voice is so exquisite bouncing off satellites to comfort me late at night. But when my worthless phone breaks, Facebook messages will have to do.” Not the most romantic of notions.

There are a couple of songs that stand out for different reasons. It’s amusing that ‘Mean Voice Memo’ is a track of its own, being only seven seconds in length. Sounding like Fridd recorded it on his mobile phone, it is obviously not studio quality, but fits right in with the skewiff theme. Another is ‘Voldemort Time’, purely for its two toned structure. Starting out with sporadic singing and a twinned melody, it completely changes half way through into a magical instrumental with twinkling keys and sodden synth pads. Not at all what you expected to adjoin to the previous half.

Each song truly has a mind of its own and it is a challenge to remember what just happened, let alone consider what might be coming up. I mean can you imagine a live performance? Would you know if they made any mistakes? Would they know? I certainly wouldn’t. It is refreshing to listen to something so out of the ordinary, although Yucksongs! 2014 : ( isn’t what I would call your everyday soundtrack. Unless you are the Mario Brothers.

Natasha Moran

@Natasha Moran

Yucksongs 2014 : ( is out now via London In Stereo. 

Tash Moran

Tash Moran

Leicester based writer and photographer