Pearl Charles lives in the moment, seeking excitement whether it leads her down a dark, dusty road or into the arms of a trouble-making lover. Her songs describe late-night revelry, love affairs, running away and running towards, serenading the sunrise through whirlwind stories of her native Los Angeles, the city, the canyon, the desert, and the road. On a quest to discover the most authentic version of herself, Charles embraces the feeling of not being settled, a person who always restlessly wants more from life and is willing to chase it, wherever it may lead her. Charles has been playing music since she was five years old. At 18, she formed the country duo The Driftwood Singers with Christian Lee Hutson, singing and playing guitar and autoharp. At 22, she joined garage rock band The Blank Tapes as drummer. After two fun-filled years immersed in the rock and roll lifestyle, she decided it was time to pursue own songwriting and began developing the songs that formed 2015’s eponymous debut EP. Her music career has been a chronological progression from old-time music to 60s garage and psychedelia, and now to a 70s-tinged disco country hybrid and 80s-inspired soft yacht rock. Drawn to catchy, poppy hooks and choruses, Charles draws on what she loves about each era while developing her unique style as a musician, singer, and songwriter.
It is easy to get lost in the psychedelic danceability of Charles’s latest single, “Does Thing Song Sound Familiar?” Lyrically, she toys with the part of our brain that stores memories, asking vague questions yet employing infectious melodies that force our neurons to fire in every which way. The spacious guitars and chugging drums playfully interact with the bouncy vocals to create a relaxed feel and juxtapose the more profound questions asked in the writing. Charles employs folk storytelling and drags it into modern times, creating a familiar yet alien feeling on “Does This Song Sound Familiar?” Her otherworldly perspective shines in the illuminating songwriting as Charles asks questions to bring us back to reality. At the same time, the instrumentation of the single evokes the feeling of floating through space. Charles is well on her way to crafting a sound she can call her own. “Does This Song Sound Familiar?” is a soul performance lined with thought-provoking lyrics and hazy undertones.
“On a hot summer night, sitting alone as the sun went down in its usual spectacular desert fashion, ‘Does This Song Sound Familiar?’ was borne on a gust of Santa Ana wind. Like the same mirages and hallucinogenic visions that have been conjured so many times before in the Mojave desert I call home, the music and lyrics floated in like a peyote-induced psilocybin dream encounter with the deeper levels of my own psyche,” explains Charles when asked about the song. “This quintessentially desert song explores life, identity, reincarnation, and alternate dimensions, likening “the song” to the cycle of life and positing that perhaps we have all been here before and that we will all be here again.”
