The Pearl Harts - 'Glitter And Spit' Album Review

Tracklist:

Black Blood

Go Hard

The Rush

Lara

Bonfires

Lost In Time

The Chief

Skeleton Made Of Diamonds

Hit The Bottle

Bless You

Livings Done

Hurt

The Pearl Harts are a Rock duo, from London, made up of Kirsty on guitar and Sara on drums. Don’t let the fact that they look like sweet girls on stage fool you. Kirsty loops her guitar and Sara is in charge of samples. They do this live so no need for co-ordination with a sound engineer and you don’t miss the fact that the usual 2 other members, a bassist and keyboard player are missing.

The have only had a few releases, but have already backed Skunk Anansie and Garbage. This album has been made possible by funding from the Help Musicians Emerging Artists Fund and a successful Pledge Music.

What is most surprising about this album is the diversity and contrast that The Pearl Harts deliver. There is Classic Rock, Modern Rock, Punk and even shades of Indie. I heard tracks that reminded me of bands as diverse as Black Sabbath, Led Zepplin, early Blondie, The Slits and the Ramones.

The album opens with ‘Black Blood’ which is a heavy Rock song with bass drums heavy guitar riffs, loud vocals and a lot of use of looping and samples which delivers a wall of sound. It is almost as it it is introducing the band by stating ‘You weren’t expecting that was ya!’

It is not difficult to guess what ‘Go Hard’ could be about. It is full of sexual innuendo. It is clear that they are not submissive though, they are taking the lead and when the line ’I wanna make you shiver, I wanna make you shake’ I don’t know if you should be shaking in anticipation or shear terror!

‘The Rush’ starts off with a Classic Rock intro with Classic Rock drumming and guitar riff. This is a more conventional track with a standard sound and structure. Whilst reverb and feedback is used, there are a lot less of the tricks, which makes it a better song in my view. The vocal is delivered with gravel and growl. This was an early stand out track for me.

‘Lara’ has been released as a single and is a really good Punk track. Not Modern Punk, but classic 1970’s early Blondie/The Slits Punk. I can see why it was chosen as a single. It is another stand out track with a simple repetitive chorus, which provides a catchy hook. Following the tried and tested formulae it ends abruptly.

You could be forgiven for thinking that you were listening to a Sabbath song when the intro for ‘Bonfires’ kicks in. The track then however transcends into a more melodic chorus. It then returns to the dark intimidating track it started as. This cycle works well especially as the sweet backing vocals provide contrast the heaviness of the track.

‘Lost In Time’ for me was another stand out number. It starts with a nice repetitive riff and is simpler and more stripped back. The gentle vocal shows another side to The Pearl Harts. The track progresses with really good layers which build to convey the emotions. This track shows real maturity.

In keeping with the cyclical nature of this album ‘The Chief’ returns us to classic hi energy Rock, with screaming feedback. The lyrics are growled and supported with hard bass drums. This is a loud number which shows confidence. This is followed by ‘Skeleton Of Diamonds’ which whilst still Rock has a more modern feel to it.

The following 3 songs continue to add variety to the album. ‘Hit The Bottle’ which was previously released as a single and was a mainstay in the bands live acts, last year starts with a Ramones like riff. It follows the rules in being a sub 3 minute slice of aggression that stops dead at the end. ‘Bless You’ is song delivered with power. It has a bass line running through it that hits you like a shockwave. The vocals are delivered with the same degree of power. The penultimate track 'Livings Done’ is delivered with a more clunky guitar, high end drum and uses echo throughout. It has a really catchy Rock hook in the chorus.

The album closes with ‘Hurt’. After a fuzzy start with frantic drumming. The vocal is subtle but grows into a growl again, accompanied with feedback. This track re-affirms that the Pearl Harts are confident in what they are doing.

This is a confident and surprisingly diverse debut album from the Pearl Harts. Both Sara and Kirsty contribute to all the tracks and they can make a hell of a noise. The Pearl Harts are touring in the Spring so if you see a couple of girls standing there looking as if they would not say boo to a goose, beware! As the album cover shows one blowing a bubblegum bubble and another with bloodied knuckles, those sweet unassuming girls might be ripping up the joint soon!