Jun 22

Jun 22 Interview with: Pearl Charles

Los Angeles-based musician Pearl Charles has been coming into her own for the better part of a decade. Ever since her self-titled EP dropped in 2015, her style has slowly morphed, adapting with her own personal evolution, and taking shape with technicolor definition. Pearl’s 2018 full-length debut Sleepless Dreamer firmly positioned her on the map of singer-songwriters to watch. With its uplifting vibe and playful production, Pearl found herself with a sudden following who were eager to see her next move. Now, with her sophomore studio album Magic Mirror under her belt, Pearl is honing in on her vision as an artist. “Life is an ongoing transformation,” she tells me over the phone for this interview. “Or at least I hope for it to be.”

Magic Mirror dropped in January of this year, almost as if reborn from the ashes of 2020. Filled with pop anthems bursting with positivity and her tried-and-true ballads seeped in Americana roots, the album came at a time when the world needed to look towards hope, to dance, and, most of all, to feel human connection. “I always say, and it sounds cliché, but I really mean it. When I listen to the music that I love, I feel less alone in the world. I feel more connected. And I just want to make that experience for other people.” —Maya Eslami

INHERENT BUMMER: Tell me about your new album, “Magic Mirror.” It came out in January, right? How’d that go?

PEARL CHARLES: It’s been continually going well, which is really awesome. I've never had this much love from an album and it's very heartening to see the upward momentum. And you've known me for a very long time and seen the path and it's not an easy one…

I've been watching you grow.

To be honest, I feel like it's a better record [than the last one], but that's just naturally how it's going to be when you get better and improve and hone in on your vision.

What was your vision going into this album?

Well, I used my touring band on this one.

You mean they all played on the album?

Yeah, and on my last record we used session guys, who are great, but there's just something to be said about really spending years on the road, playing songs with people and how much that really gels together. And on the last record I had toyed with the idea of doing an ABBA style thing, but we never got around to doing that. So now I feel like on this record, obviously I really went hard into that vibe, but people seem to really be liking it. So I'm excited about it. Like that song, “Only for Tonight.” It fits in, I feel like, and it really sets the stage for the kind of album that it's going to be. It's fun, it's dancy, but it's also... If you listen to the lyrics, they're introspective, and that's the whole theme of the record.

I know the lyrics are incredibly personal to you, and introspective. And revealing. But it gives off this uplifting sound. Was that a subconscious way to make it easier to release the songs?

That's a really great question. Probably. I'd never really considered it like that. I love the concept of “Magic Mirror” as the title of the album because I feel like there's two sides to everything. It's about duality and we are not ever one thing only. Of course, sometimes we feel very deeply one emotion, but I feel like I wanted to put forward something that's a little bit more complex and something that contains the Yin and the Yang just because I feel like that represents me. And I feel like that represents my life experience and hopefully other people can relate, and I think that they can.

Do you feel like this is your ‘coming of age’ album?

Well, I turned 30 two days ago. And it's really funny because I keep saying this, which is a weird thing to say, because it doesn't really mean anything. But if I turned 30 last year, I don't know that I would have been that stoked about where I was in my life. And that’s just partially because of the pandemic. I don't think anyone was that stoked about where their life was at, in May of last year. You know what I mean? Now? I mean, my record was supposed to come out in May of last year. So there was a lot of waiting and a lot of wondering how it was going to go. And then ultimately I think the timing lined up really, really well for me personally, and for the release into the world, because the album does have positivity contained in it. I didn't want to put that out at a time when it might seem inappropriate. I think the world is always going to need [positive] energy, but I didn't want to distract from all of the pain that was happening in the world and put something out that seemed tone deaf.

That’s pretty astute of you to acknowledge that.

It was a tough decision because obviously you become somewhat more disconnected from the material the longer away you are from finishing it. But I feel like putting it out at this time gave it a new life for me. I feel like it came at a really good time, and to see the way people are responding to it made me more excited about it. I always say, and it sounds sort of cliché, but I really mean it. When I listen to the music that I love, I feel less alone in the world. I feel more connected. And I just want to make that experience for other people.

Did it feel cathartic to release?

Well, like you said, it is a coming of age story and it is somewhat chronological. The order of the record that I chose to put it in… It starts with the break up song and the one-night stand, going out and partying song. Then there's some darker, more introspective stuff to round out the first side. And then the second side goes into the story of finding yourself and finding a partner to share it with when you're ready for that. That's a journey of many years.

When it came out and I heard the title, Magic Mirror, I immediately thought of Snow White, and also Alice in Wonderland. But the way you just expressed the journey sounds so much more transformational. Do you feel like you transformed in the process of making this album?

Yes. I definitely do. And I think life is an ongoing transformation or at least I hope for it to be. And I believe it is, if you choose to continue to grow and you don't become complacent and get stuck, which can happen whether you want it to or not. But I think that, yeah, the transformational journey is such a big part of it for me. And I hope... Here I am at this writing retreat thinking about what I'm going to write about next. And I'm like, "Oh, I don't want to go over the same ground." But at the same time, it's just always going to be part of the story.

What’s up with the writing retreat?

Well, it's kind of a writing retreat. That's how it started. I came here back in the summer of 2017, right after I finished my last record and wrote two of the songs that are on [Magic Mirror]. And they brought back a lot of people. Lola Kirke was here, and Courtney Marie Andrews, she was nominated for Best Americana Album at the Grammys. So it's a great crew of people. But the last time we came, they didn't have a studio or any way to document what was going on. And it's this nonprofit program that brings artists together. They built a studio in the last few years and we're all recording alternate versions of our old songs that we wrote here, or new songs that we wrote on this trip, or whatever we want.

What's the organization called?

It's called the Almanack Arts Colony. It's a really special unique place and gives you a space outside of your own normal situation to be creative, without any pressure, which I think is so great.

How much longer are you there for?

I'm leaving on Monday. We’ve been here for three weeks. It was a good way to ease back into socializing as well. Everyone's vaccinated. And I haven't been around people that I didn't know or large groups of people. There's been at most 15 people [in one room] at a time, but that's drastically larger than any group I've seen in the last year and a half.

Is that the first trip you've been on?

Besides a road trip to Big Sur, yeah.

We’re slowly getting back to normal. And you just lined up all these tours.

I'm very excited about that. I mean, it's still really far in the future. I haven't even announced this yet, but we're going to go to a bunch of places in Europe that I've never been to before, I'm so stoked.

Have you written any new songs while you’ve been at the retreat?

Well, Michael [Rault] is here with me.

Are you guys collaborating on something?

We've written a few songs together and we've also both spent time doing our own thing.

So what's next, now that you're at this retreat and your mind is inspired?

Well, we're going to go record more in June. So that's really exciting. Probably not a whole record just yet, but I'm going to have enough songs for a record, but we're just going to start… The main thing that I know for sure is recording and then touring next year, but in the meantime, I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

See where the road takes you.

Yeah. It's funny, this applies to Snow White as well. It's like the wishing well; creativity needs to be refilled once you empty the vessel. And that's what I did on this record. So now I'm going back to the drawing board, by being here, changing my environment. There's been a lot of inspiration in the last year and a lot of stuff to think about. And I've been lucky to have been able to take advantage of the fact that we're not on tour, to write more. It's cool though, to be able to now step out and actually be able to travel and have experiences again, because I didn't realize how much that plays into it. Obviously all the emotions and all of the ideas come from inside your head, but sometimes you need to have the external experiences to reflect what you want to say and how you want to express it.

Do you feel like you expressed what you wanted to say with Magic Mirror?

Yes. I'm very proud of that record and I really think it shed a lot of light on what I wanted to say, at that time. But I do think that the next record is going to have some different content. What it is yet, I'm not sure. It's actually funny, [Magic Mirror] was supposed to have a song on it that ended up getting cut off. I say “fuck” in it. And it's a bit darker. And taking it off really... We switched it out for “Sweets Sunshine Wine,” which we'd released previously as a single, but we wanted to give it a vinyl release. Changing that one song really changed the whole vibe of the album and made it a much more sun-shiney and happy kind of thing, which I think was the right move for this album. But, lurking below the surface, there's some darker stuff that I might have to bring out next time around.

For more music by Pearl Charles, click here. And check out all announced tour dates below.

11/11 Seattle, WA - Freakout Festival

01/30 Dublin, IR - Whelans (Upstairs)

02/01 Birmingham, UK - Sunflower Lounge

02/02 Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social Club

02/03 Glasgow, Scotland - Nice N Sleazy

02/04 Manchester, UK - Deaf Institute

02/05 London, UK - Hoxton Hall

02/07 Paris, FR - Pop Up Du Label

02/08 Tienen, BEL - Costa Hoppa

02/09 Utrecht, NL - Club Nine

02/10 Berlin, GER - Badehaus