Rock ’n’ Roll has always been thought of as a young man’s game. Live fast, die young, and leave a pretty corpse—all that good stuff. Typically, rock artists are dangerous when they’re young, but slip into complacency and irrelevance as they age. However, judging by his new album, The Pigeons Couldn’t Sleep, Peter Himmelman didn’t get that memo. 

Himmelman has been making records for two decades now, managing to mostly stay under the radar of mainstream music. He brings this experience to Pigeons, showing that maturity and subtly can successfully make up for youthful exuberance. Using ominous lyrics and smart, masterful production, Himmelman creates an album with more depth and darkness than the tuneless wailing of some of today’s young bands could conjure.

The title track starts things off with an open-ended, swampy death-reggae groove that rolls in like a storm cloud with bolts of slide guitar lightning. From there, the arrangements tighten up and the songs become more straightforward, sounding more like a grown-up Elvis Costello and the Attractions than the ambient vibe of the first few tracks. Himmelman sneaks darkness into greasy blues rave-ups such as “Killer” as he sings, “Vengeance is a must, if you want to know the Lord / Every fiery angel knows how to wield a sword.”

Sometimes Himmelman leans on his Dylan and Costello influences a bit too heavily, particularly with vocal delivery. But all that fades away when he reaches for his acoustic guitar and becomes downright heart wrenching. The ballad “17 Minutes to 1” addresses facing one’s own mortality. The eerie slide guitar mixes with delicate piano to give the chilly impression of watching grains of sand falling in the hourglass of life. Peter Himmelman has the experience to handle such a universal pain without succumbing to melodrama, showing that he is a man in a sea of fall out boys.