Pearly
Escape Trick

The bio I got with this demo is probably responsible for Global Warming, but reading through it they have some good qualities. Pearly appear to be at a stage where they have played for long enough to know what they want to do and how they want to get there. Let’s see…

It begins with the title track ‘Escape Trick’ and it’s not what I imagined, but in a good way. I suppose with a name like Pearly, you could have some pre-conceptions about what they are going to sound like. The guitar riff is suitably catchy and the bass matches it perfectly. I don’t know if the backing vocals are designed to be intentionally ‘off-key’, but it kinda works. So far, not too bad.

‘The Cockroach Soul’ continues where the first track leaves off, these guys are more concerned with making something which is whole, rather than focusing on making the music or the lyrics the main point.

I’m trying to think of who they remind me of and, if anything, I’d say it’s first-album Weezer. More in the feel of it and the way the music drops to emphasise the chorus and then builds back up to as much of a crescendo as they can muster. It’s definitely ‘feel-good’ music and does have some catchy moments.

‘Faultline’ allows itself some time to get started, but is well done – you can tell the vocalist is putting something extra into this particular track. They are quite comfortably ‘indie’ music which even got me thinking back to Radish…and that’s a blast from the past. It’s probably one of the strongest tracks on the CD, as they all seem to have ensured that a little bit more OOMPH has been injected.

‘Dirty Mouth’, which is a live recording from them playing at the Garage, is again an atypical Pearly track. It’s a little sparser than the tracks to date and is a little bit White Stripesy. ‘I’m Gonna get Drunk in the City’ though is a good line and probably quite apt.

You can tell that they do have a particular style, just its nothing that really stands out as genuinely different. However, do not take that to mean that they are bad, cos that is not the case. ‘Uneven’ seems to carry on the story from ‘Dirty Mouth’, and by now the Pearly formula is in full effect.

Pearly do not rely on fancy effects, just placing the importance making solid songs, which is something you can’t knock them for. I think the fact that they have played together for so long helps them considerably. At this point in the CD you kinda get what they are doing – it isn’t to my own personal taste, but even I can see that it is appealing.

The best named track on the CD ‘Hangmans Hood’ finishes things off and is very much in the style of what has gone before. The lyrics are not too shabby and the vocal is clear and intelligible.

Listening to them reminds me of why I was an Indie kid ‘back in the day’. There’s nothing offensive at all, and even now, being bitter and cynical, you can’t dislike them at all.

Pearly are like a mate you’ve known for years, a little odd, but you hang around them because they make you feel like you’re important. Well structured and definitely worth a listen, even if it’s not my particular thing. Not bad going chaps!