A new release from Pearl Poet gives off an electronic soundscape that comes through vast and colorful with a lush character and a spacious and slightly psychedelic backbone all with the use of blending beautiful textures to create an atmosphere that you simply don't want to leave.
" My Escape" comes through with a beautiful tonality and a feeling of being free and throughout it all you get an almost cinematic undertone that serves the track very well, especially in terms of sonic presence.
This track has a very unique way of letting you get engulfed in its vibes and it has a way of growing an intensity as you listen further and further which I find quite genius because this is how the song wraps itself around you and gets you attached and involved.
Listen to this track feels more like an experience than just a song and it serves as quite an escape because when you listen to it you sort of forget about your reality for a little while and I love songs that let you do that because I feel like some music is made just for that reason.
One of the things I loved about this track is how there are a lot of different sounds going on at once but it all comes together in such a forward flow that it makes perfect sense and this includes the vocals that appear in the song because that's the aspect that adds to that growing intensity even more.
This whole track was sort of graceful and puts you in a State of Trance as you float through this almost dream-esque space and there's something about it that feels almost Fantastical and even nostalgic at times.
Upon listening to this single I had no choice but to take a little bit of a deep dive into the previous drops from Pearl Poet and what I found was such a wondrous array of arrangement and songwriting that I can easily tell you if you like the single you're bound to like a lot of the other releases that you can find.
This is clearly an artist who has a pure love for the craft of producing, songwriting, and utilizing sonic textures to create something that you can sort of swim through, and each time you get something memorable but in slightly different ways.
There are even layers that you can actually sort of peel back throughout the course of this song and it's not short either. This is about 5 and 1/2 minutes but it feels bigger than that because the sound of it all is just massive.
It does such a great job of dynamically balancing the tones of everything together so that it feels like one piece and I think that that's part of the challenge of making songs of this genre in this nature.
You have to have an ear for balancing tonality because that's the whole name of the game.
The production comes through warm but slightly edgy and all of it has a certain persona or character I should say.
You can definitely hear this track in the scene of a film and I love songs that give you something slightly envelope-pushing with fewer boundaries than you're used to hearing.
These are the things that push music forward.
It is familiar, which brings in that whole nostalgic aspect and I think that has more to do with the actual synth sounds than anything else, but it also blends certain genres like electronica or trance, and Indie pop for example.
And doing something like that is taking a step forward musically and being able to let yourself in your sound evolve.
Pearl Poet is a perfect example of all this and this single was very well woven.
With the release of "My Escape" we wanted to have a sit-down with the artist to find out where this track actually came from and what might be coming up next.
Here's what went down.
Buzzslayers: Okay, let's start with "My Escape"! This was vast and cinematic with powerful vocals to it! It was like a musical journey! How did this release come about?
This release initially came about as a result of listening to Who’s Next: Lifehouse (Chronicles) when it came out in September of this year. I was inspired to create a musical arrangement using an arpeggiated analog synth, so I did. I came up with about five or six chords, two of which reminded me of John Carpenter’s movie themes, and then I decided on a suitable dance/disco tempo by using a simple drum machine. Later on Jeremy programmed a more complex dance percussion arrangement.
Buzzslayers: How did this all start for you musically?
Our previous single, “Feel It”, was like crossing the Rubicon for me as a songwriter and producer/co-producer. In a lot of ways I feel like it was the first truly mature song I ever wrote, and that we ever produced. With “My Escape” I believe I took it a step further by incorporating more of the signature Pearl Poet nu-disco/synth pop sound and infusing it with a darker, more desperate edge. The experience of writing the lyrics for “My Escape” was like a dark night of the soul at the tail end of a mystical and chaotic summer. It all happened on a warm October night in my studio. I felt an overwhelming wave of emotional despair come over me while rehearsing the arpeggiated chords on my synthesizer, and so in turn my spiritual essence (the real me) decided to make an appearance and cry out to God in desperation in the form of a techno pop vocal melody. When the words came to me it was sudden, and I was filled with a triune voice of persecution, alienation and spiritual liberty. The result I believe is a hazy glimpse into the zeitgeist of the hopeless wasteland of twenty-first century American culture and politics, as well as an expression of the exhaustion and frustration of subsisting in a global society hellbent on control, collectivism, censorship, propaganda and the hatred of all things beautiful and righteous. It is a cry for help a la John Lennon circa 1965 mixed in generously with a bit of Depeche Mode’s New Romantic synth-blast, and a dash of gritty early nineties Trent Reznor. If a mad disco scientist combined the aforementioned aesthetic and musical elements into a “trip the light fandango” solution, and placed them in a time machine set for the global club scene in 2024-2025, you would get “My Escape”. It is heavy on the thematic content and vibes, but musically, I think it sounds like it was crafted for a sweaty, laser-drenched discoteca in Miami or perhaps even Rome. Furthermore the lyrics suggest that martyrdom is the ultimate form of escapism and spiritual evolution.
Buzzslayers: What kind of things really inspire songs for you?
Simple things, but also complex subjects. Beautiful things: A song, a woman, an exhilarating experience, an enigmatic or inspiring historical subject, a theological or philosophical idea, God, nature, a new place, a good film or book.
Buzzslayers: This release has some great approaches to it! Can you give us some of your biggest influences musically?
The Beach Boys, The Cars, The Beatles, Luke Steele (The Sleepy Jackson, Empire Of The Sun), Marvin Gaye, Haruomi Hosono, Tom Schulz (Boston), Depeche Mode, Daft Punk, Justice and many more.
Buzzslayers: What are you doing when you're NOT working on music?
Writing screenplays professionally, writing poetry, directing and photographing music videos. I’m making a feature film next year! Reading, watching classic (1940s-1990s) and foreign films, boating with friends, beach bumming, people watching at island bars, traveling, skiing, watching re-runs of Miami Vice and Saved By The Bell.
Buzzslayers: Who's in your headphones right now?
Vince Guaraldi Trio’s Christmas music, The Tyde’s new single, Tenebrae Original Soundtrack by Claudio Simonetti, Fabio Pignatelli, and Massimo Morante (3/4 of the band Goblin), Chicago’s VIII LP, McCartney II, Pink Floyd’s Obscured By Clouds LP, Jan Hammer, The Best of Sade, A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector, Elvis Christmas songs.
Buzzslayers: Are you doing any live performances right now?
No. We’re currently in the studio working on our debut full-length LP, but we do have plans to tour Europe in 2024.
Buzzslayers: Do you record these at a big studio or do you have a home studio set-up?
Both. As you know, in this day and age most records are recorded in multiple studios and or locations due to touring, travel and busy schedules. Everyone works remotely now. In addition each studio has its own sonic pros and cons, and unique textures. I typically track at my home studio but I also track in large studios if a production calls for it. The records are typically mixed and mastered in larger studios. In the case of “My Escape” and the previous one, we worked with Mike Pritchard in Atlanta. He co-produced with us as well as mixed and mastered the songs.
Buzzslayers: What can your fans expect from you in the near future?
Pure awesomeness. Truth. Discovery. Anti-fear. Beauty. Poetry. The rhythms of the sea.
Buzzslayers : Before we go, what would you like to say to fans of the music?
We have an accompanying music video/short film for “My Escape” dropping shortly after the single. Thanks for listening. Merry Christmas and God bless.