Pearl and the Beard – God Rest
Posted on | January 2, 2010 | No Comments
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Pearl And The Beard- Voice In My Throat
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Pearl And The Beard- Donny And Johnny
Percussion and harmonies are the central are the dominate layers of the giant cake that Pearl and the Beard have named God Rest Your Weary Soul, Amanda Richardson.
The first two songs start off with the big guns. Pearl and Beard jump right into singing duet verses, harmonies, and holding forth with multiple lines at the same time. It is not often that modern artists force me to track two separate speakers at the same time.
| Pearl Says: | Beard says: |
|
I walk down the road and I’m alone again, but I will sing a song as I go I walk down the road and I’m alone again, but You will be the voice in my throat |
All these years I’ve travelled down the lonely pathway Singing something you’ll never know All these years I’ve travelled down the lonely pathway You have been the voice in my throat |
They collaborate on the chorus, but immediately break apart when it is time for the second verse. By literally singing on top of each other, they create a strong sense of a short story. Art lovers separated by time or place who feel the separation keenly, but are unable to come together.
As the next track starts, Pearl and Beard are immediately together. Beard takes the lead on the verse and Pearl sweetly owns the chorus. But in verse two, they voices and lyrics split again emphasizing that their experiences are different even as their emotions track together.
For me the rest of the album coasts off of those first two tracks.
The third track, Twice Today, is the calm from the storm. After two driving, complex songs Twice Today lowers the intensity and allows the listener to fall down with the voices on a bed of cello. Some of the stark energy comes back on Oh Death, the fourth track and the whole album shows these two playing around the boundaries and nibbling at the edges of the land they have staked.
Musically, the whole experience feels like pulling into a small town in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and being serenaded by the fiercely proud locals. They know their land and they mark it with power and force. It is a beautiful land, but isolated and unique.
See them in action doing a Will Smith medley.
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