“Delightful” is the word I’d use to sum up Pearl & The Oysters‘ new album, Flowerland. It’s a bright, lovely electro-pop record and the kid of music we all sorely need as we approach the latter half of 2021 with trepidation. Should we travel? Is the pandemic really over? Is it okay to make out and hug people again? Pearl & The Oysters might not have all the answers, but they do have warm, self-replicating optimism.
“Soft Science,” the album’s opener, is a song about taking time to enjoy life (“Hey, come to the beach. You studied all night long.”) and not being a slave to the self-imposed grind. Poppy, fun synths encourage us to step outside our comfortable homes and feel the sand between our toes again. The up-tempo “Bit Valley” is an ode to staring at a computer for so long that you dream about it later. The synths sound like happy, giddy birds throughout the whole track.
“Treasure Island” is perfect for lounging at the outdoor hotel pool, at the beach, or even on the plane ride back from vacation. It’s lazy, groovy, and lovely electro-lounge. “Radiant Radish” is psychedelic surf as Pearl & The Oysters encourage us to get away from bumper-to-bumper traffic and forget your troubles at the beach. The lazy beats and lazy, warped guitar riffs on “Crocodile” reflect the self-isolation lethargy so many of us faced (“Why am I still inside?”). On its surface, “Candy” is about a love of candy and indulging in one’s sweet tooth, but is actually about love, lust, and, I suspect, oral sex. It’s a sweet, funky jam anyway you cut it.
The title track is a dreamy fantasy of crashing on an alien world and discovering it’s a sunny paradise. “Evening Sun” is about being hungover, both on booze and on Netflix, home cooking, and staying indoors. The beats on it are crisp, and the addition of a flute is a lovely touch. “Baby” is their version of the Bossa nova classic, and it’s a welcome delight on an already delightful album.
“Wizzo” brings in sitar and robot-like vocals about the future coming early, as it always does. “Osteroid Asteroid” is so full of fat synth bass that it should probably have its blood sugar checked. On “Satellite,” Pearl and the Oysters sing about the law of (physical) attraction, to the point where it’s keeping her awake at night for fear of missing something delightful. “Rocket Show” has a bit of minstrel show / circus sound to it, with what I think is a harpsichord prancing throughout it. It’s a song of optimism and seems like it’s congratulating all of us for making it through 2020, but Flowerland was completed pre-pandemic. The album closes with the instrumental, trippy “Flamingo Sketches.”
It’s a lovely record all-around and one you’ll enjoy as you move from summer to autumn, and then listen to again in winter so you can remind yourself that summer will come.
Keep your mind open.
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[Thanks to Gabriel at Clandestine PR.]