Pearl & The Oysters

Pearl & The Oysters

Pearl & The Oysters

Juliette Pearl Davis and Joachim Polack aren’t just musical collaborators – they’re also life partners. As Pearl & the Oysters, they make songs that speak to eclectic tastes in music and pop culture; as Juju and Jojo, they’re kindred spirits. In another life, Juliette and Joachim made pop music in Paris but they sometimes felt at odds with the local music scene of the time. So when the opportunity arose, the pair skipped town for the U.S. In Gainesville, Florida, they were welcomed into an open-minded DIY scene, but after a few “very inspiring years”, they were confronted with insomnia and anxiety, and needed a fresh start. So they crossed the country to L.A. and connected with artists including Lætitia Sadier (Stereolab), Riley Geare (Unknown Mortal Orchestra), Alan Palomo (Neon Indian), Dent May, and Alex Brettin (Mild High Club) who contributed to their first record for Stones Throw, Coast 2 Coast. Pearl & The Oysters' new album is a colorful cocktail of aesthetics and images drawn 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 they feel at the state of the world also finds its way into Coast 2 Coast and their new song “Paraiso”, which reimagines idyllic 20th-century Californian tourism ads and dreams of a time “when the idea of the ‘endless summer’ was more of a luxury commodity than a looming menace”. Though Coast 2 Coast documents both Juliette and Joachim’s literal move from Florida to L.A. and their state of flux, now they feel more settled. They’ve found a “sense of ‘home’ in one another.”