Pearl & The Oysters Share New Album 'Coast 2 Coast'
Juliette Pearl Davis and Joachim Polack of Pearl & The Oysters aren’t just musical collaborators. They’re also kindred spirits. What began as a high-school friendship blossomed into a creative and personal relationship that has spanned decades and continents. In another life, they were musicians in Paris making pop music, but sometimes felt at odds with the local music scene, like they were strangers in their hometown. Both Juliette and Joachim grew up on a diet of U.S. pop culture and have American family, so when the opportunity arose the pair decided to skip town for the U.S.
Coast 2 Coast is the product of Pearl & the Oysters’ multiple moves and their first album for Stones Throw. After a few inspiring and creative years in Gainesville, Florida, where they recorded the first half of their new record, they headed to Los Angeles. Here they finished up Coast 2 Coast (mostly in their Highland Park 1-bed) with a host of friends and collaborators including Lætitia Sadier (Stereolab), Riley Geare (Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Caroline Rose, La Luz), Alan Palomo (Neon Indian), Dent May, Alex Brettin (Mild High Club), and Shags Chamberlain who mixed the album.
While Coast 2 Coast explores the idea of travel, both physically and mentally; experienced and fantasized, it also draws on an array of aesthetics and images from all over: Barbarella followed by an Agnès Varda triple bill; the swamps of Florida and sandy L.A. beaches under a mirrorball sun; a radio picking up a faraway broadcast before tuning into an oldies pop station, and crashing waves that melt into the sound of Juliette’s white noise machine.
The creeping anxiety both feel at the state of the world makes its way into Coast 2 Coast’s lyrics, but overall, the duo says, they’re happier now. Juliette explains: “After moving so many times we feel that everywhere is our home and nowhere is our home either. Maybe that’s why we’re so attached to writing songs about places that make us feel good. Now, we’ve found that sense of ‘home’ in one another.”
Pearl & The Oysters will be on the road at the end of April; see below for a list of dates.
Pearl & The Oysters’ US Coast 2 Coast Tour
29 April - Los Angeles, CA - Lodge Room
2 May - Sacramento, CA - Starlet Room
4 May - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
5 May - Seattle, WA - Belltown Bloom Festival
6 May - Boise, ID - Neurolux
7 May - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
9 May - Kansas City - MO - recordBar
10 May - Minneapolis, MN - Green Room
11 May - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
12 May - Detroit, MI - The Magic Bag
13 May - Kingston, ON - Hotel Wolfe Island
14 May - Montreal, QC - Casa Del Popolo
15 May - Troy, NY - No Fun
17 May - Brooklyn, NY - Elsewhere Zone 1
18 May - Philadelphia, PA - PhilaMoca
19 May - Lancaster, PA - The B Stage
20 May - Washington, DC - Comet Ping Pong
22 May - Charlotte, NC - Snug Harbor
23 May - Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club
24 May - Gainesville, FL - Heartwood Soundstage
26 May - Austin, TX - Mohawk
27 May - San Antonio, TX - Paper Tiger
29 May - Phoenix, AZ - Trunk Space
31 May - San Francisco, CA - The Chapel
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