Categories:
Cart 0

Your cart is empty

Pearl & The Oysters

The whimsical French pop-loving band Pearl & the Oysters moved from France to Florida to California; wherever Joachim Polack and Juliette Davis might end up their endearingly retro, sweetly sentimental songs and sound is likely to follow. Using a kitchen sink's worth of instruments, calling in sympathetic musicians, and showing off a very light melodic sensibility, the band's first two albums are breezy and delightful space age pop. 2021's Flowerland was the last record, fittingly nostalgic and summery, made before they decamped to California, where they picked right up woith the even breezier-sounding Coast 2 Coast in 2023. The duo met in high school in Paris and bonded over a love of Burt Bacharach and the Pixies. Polack had been playing in bands for a few years already, and Davis had been plotting a future as a singer since she was a toddler. They attended Université Paris-Sorbonne and began working on a sound that was equally influenced by classic French Pop of the '60s, space age pop of the '50s (and its revival in the '90s by bands like Stereolab), and the inspired simplicity of Love You-era Beach Boys. At the same time, the duo were on their way to earning Master's degrees in musicology. While living in Paris they began recording their first album, but midway through they moved to Gainesville, Florida so Polack could attend the University of Florida to study Brazilian music at a doctoral level. They finished the record, titled Pearl & the Oysters, in Florida and released it in September of 2017. It wasn't long before they started working on a second record, this time recording at four different home studios in more far-flung locales like Italy and France. Along the way, they overdubbed contributions from a variety of musicians including Vulfpeck guitarist Cory Wong, Carlos Valderrama of Fitness Forever, and Alex Brettin of Mild High Club. The finished album shared a similarly upbeat attitude and breezy pop feel as their debut, but added some fuller arrangements. 2018's Canned Music was released jointly by Burger Records and Requiem for a Twister. The duo's third album, 2021's Flowerland, is a slightly more subdued take on the bubbly pop of previous efforts with lyrics that delve more deeply into personal issues and serve as a farewell to Florida, which they left in favor of Los Angeles. Helping out on the record is a large cast of collaborators that includes Dent May, sitarist Ami Dang, members of the Florida band Edmonson, Kuo-Hung Tseng from Sunset Rollercoaster, Jules Crommelin of Parcels, and multi-instrumentalist Fay Lovsky. The album was mixed by Shags Chamberlain and released in September of 2021 on Feeltrip Records. Now living in L.A., the duo called on a mostly different set of collaborators for 2023's Coast 2 Coast, a typically sweet and fizzy pop record with just a touch of anxiety about the state of the world hovering around the edges. On board to help Polack and Davis create their smmoth cocktail of retro sounds are old hands Alex Brettin and Dent May, as well as newbies Laetitia Sadier, Unknown Mortal Orchestra's Riley Geare, and Alan Palomo of Neon Indian. Also, Davis' jazz musician father dropped by to add some vibraphone., The finished product was issued by the band's new label home Stones Throw in April of 2023.
© Tim Sendra /TiVo
Listen

Similar artists

Odessey And Oracle
Giorgio Tuma
Mosquitos
Fitness Forever
The Blow
Tennis
Cola Boyy
The Last Detail
Dent May
Marinero
Jonathan Bree
Marker Starling
Superhumanoids
The High Llamas
Mild High Club
Weyes Blood
77:78
Drugdealer
Laetitia Sadier
The Bird and the Bee

Discography

18 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller

My favorites

Cet élément a bien été <span>ajouté / retiré</span> de vos favoris.

Sort and filter releases