Concert Review – Pearl and the Beard, 8/12/11 Cooper Square Hotel, New
York City + Interview With Jeremy Styles
Let’s get straight to the point: if you can see Pearl and the Beard perform live and not be taken quickly to a point of toe-tapping joy, I have serious concerns about your well-being. I was recently fortunate enough to be taken on such a transformation by the band at their recent sold-out show in the penthouse of the Cooper Square Hotel in downtown New York City. Before the show, I got a chance to chat with Jeremy Styles, one-third of this up-and-coming band out of Brooklyn, N.Y.
When I asked Styles about the group’s recent success and the growth of their crowds, he seemed genuinely flummoxed and said he was always surprised when anyone showed up at all. An incredibly friendly and affable guy, there is a sincerity to Jeremy’s humility that comes through when the group performs, and these qualities are shared by his bandmates Joceyln Mackenzie and Emily Hope Price. “It’s like throwing a birthday party every month. You say to your friends ‘OK I’m having a party!’ and I always assume no one is going to come.” Styles says he used to know everyone in the crowd that was there to see them as either friends or family, but now, he says the crowds have a lot more strangers in them, and “it’s difficult to trace back” where their audience members came to hear of them. Again, the affability returns when he says that Pearl and the Beard’s fans have been “nice enough” to spread the word, but notes “I’m mystified when people know all the words to the songs.”
The songs, however, are really, really great. Their two full-length releases, “God Bless Your Weary Soul Amanda Richardson” and this year’s follow-up “Killing the Darlings” are filled with tunes that perfectly meld components of feminine and masculine with ferocity and gentleness. The songs are typically ebullient and fun but there’s a raw emotional undercurrent. You’ll come for the rich instrumentation and the evocative lyrics, but it’s the Siren-like harmonies that will keep you coming back for more: Price’s voice has strong undercurrents of Billie Holiday, and Mackenzie’s joyful melodies combined with Styles’ octave-jumping tones make for a delightful combination.
Styles said all three contributing to the songwriting process, which takes form in “every imaginable way,” as all three have different influences and songwriting techniques. Sometimes, one member will bring a complete or nearly complete song to the table and the group will work on editing it to final form, while other times, various members will contribute incomplete songs, and the group will work together to complete the song. Styles jokingly notes that “moaning, mumbling and hallucinating” are crucial this process of “Frankensteining” different song bits together.
I felt a bit as though I was hallucinating when I arrived on the 21st floor of the Cooper Square Hotel on a gorgeous Friday in August. The penthouse boasts floor to ceiling windows and 360 degree views of Manhattan from its wraparound terrace, and the sun was just setting as the crowd convened. By the end of the show, a full moon had risen in the sky, and the Empire State Building was fully illuminated in the background.
The group wasted no time calling attention to their opulent surroundings, with Mackenzie thanking the crowd for coming to her apartment and encouraging us to help with the clean-up efforts by “leaving the trash with the butler.” They then kicked off an achingly beautiful 13-song set, highlighted by several songs from their latest releases, a new untitled song and an old song from their first EP “At Home With Pearl and the Beard.”
The three made their way into the crowd of 250 for several songs, including an intimate and beautiful rendition “Apple,” a song that Price wrote with Portland’s Lady Lamb the Beekeeper. They also performed the evening’s penultimate song “Douglas Douglass” amidst the crowd, without microphones or instruments, other than a small drum and a tambourine - relying instead on their booming voices and percussion from the crowd’s clapping hands and stomping feet to carry the tune through the penthouse. The effect was magical.
Something so striking about this band is their ability to be unique without being gimmicky. Price sometimes ditches the bow to play her cello as an upright bass and the result is powerful, to say the least. Styles will borrow the bow to slide it across his acoustic guitar strings, creating a creepy but stirring melody, and Mackenzie – who is rarely without a smile exploding across her face – switches between drums, glockenspiel, melodica and even a kazoo. It could all turn into something kitschy and alienating in its preciousness, but the effect is actually completely charming.
In short, there’s no bulls@#$ with this band. Their music touches your heart (and almost twinges it with sadness in certain songs) but Pearl and the Beard reminds you how great music can be when you strip away all the pretension and affectation and just enjoy making it and sharing it with other people. They’re something special and genuine in an industry – and a city – that’s filled with people who pride them on detached coolness, and I hope that a lot more people find their way to their music and shows. Even if it will mystify Styles to see so many strangers singing his songs at shows.