Pearl and the Oysters are doing it for themselves

First, there's multi-instrumentalist Joachim Polack or Jojo. Raised in a musical household, soundtracked by his parent's taste, he developed a lifelong love for music after picking up his first instrument as a child. Initially focused on the violin, it wasn't until his teen years he became captivated by rock and pop. Forming various bands in high school, it's here he met Juliette Pearl Davis. Together they bonded over a shared love of Pixies, and a 60s fetish that involved a 2003 easy-listening compilation titled "The Get Easy! Sunshine Pop Collection".

Vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Davis, or Juju, had more of a hands-on introduction to music. Coming from a family of musicians, in particular her dad, a music enthusiast, his obsession sparked the same in Davis. "He still goes record shopping all the time, and since we have similar tastes too, we always show each other our sounds and our records and everything," she says fondly. It wasn't long before she joined the family trade. Picking up the trumpet, it was this that would see her through the conservatory that she and Polack would both attend while simultaneously at university studying musicology. They are indeed "Eternal students of music," he attests.

Now in their mid-30s, the pair have a symbiotic relationship, balancing their rigorous musical education with a joyful exploration of the creative space in between. Consistently writing songs and making music alongside their studies, musical education is the spine of their creativity. "Being able to have the tools to analyze the music we love, and then being able to, through our creative outlet, burst some of that out," is their well-earned blessing according to Davis. Yet, Pearl & The Oysters was born largely out of rebellion. "It's almost an allergic reaction to the rigidity," Polack explains. "To me, it's like I was learning all these things with the intent, very early on, actually to overcome the rules and the boundaries that were set by my teachers.

"Essentially, it started as we're gonna make like lo-fi music with zero budget on a laptop and just have fun with it," he remembers. It's an internal conflict with his studied mind, essentially trying to undo it all in the name of Pearl & The Oysters. But, old habits die hard. "I kind of hate the idea that we would be doing music for musicians, which is something that we've been called, and I guess part of it is, that's a fact." "We do intend for the music to be as fun and accessible," Davis affirms. "We love pop music. We love pop songs. There are no limits to how Poppy a song can be. We're into catchy, so it's a lot of fun."

Referring to Pearl & The Oysters as his "vacation from anything academic," it was while he was conducting his PhD in Florida that the pair began to find a home for their output.

Releasing their self-titled debut album in 2017 while still in Florida, it was a vivaciously twee early step with futuristic synth-laced flourishes. "We weren't trying to fit into any production trend. I think that when the first album came out, it didn't sound like anything else around that time, and I think that's what early like supporters of the band were picking up on," Polack says.

"I feel like in the beginning when we wrote the songs that were the first album, I think there wasn't even a question of it being a real-life band. It was just whoever will put out this thing on tape, that would be really nice," Polack recalls. It was soon followed by 2018's Canned Music and then 2021's Flowerland, which eventually garnered the attention of Stones Throw Records. Their debut on the label – Coast2Coast – came in 2022. Bolstering their breezy pop standing even further, it concerned their move to L.A.

Moving from Paris to Gainesville, Florida, and eventually to L.A., Pearl & The Oysters' American voyage was inevitable. For as long as they can remember they were enamoured by The Great American Songbook. It's what they're searching for in their own output. Pearl & The Oysters trade in sugary bubblegum pop that has something for everyone. It challenges if you listen intently to its offerings. Or, more simply, you can enjoy a surface-level sheen that's inspired by 60s garage rock with jazz flourishes and synth weirdness.

Their fifth offering, this year's Planet Pearl, is one of their most realised visions to date. "It feels to me like a very US album. It's probably the most, the most intimate in terms of what we let ourselves do and, and it feels like I don't know true to true to who we are, and true to what we want to be and make," Polack says.

"It seems easier to look at the journey from the first one to see an evolution," Polack offers on the pair's development. "Gradually we got more and more complex in terms of production and writing and pre-production. But honestly, we just see it as this outlet to have fun." In the case of those timeless tunes that they both bonded over when they were younger, that's what they're chasing. They are searching for their own 'Great Pearl & Oyster Songbook'. "It will always be this experiment in creating something out of all of these sources of inspiration, but something that can be timeless and that can be catchy. We're really after the catchy chorus!"

Ultimately Pearl & the Oysters' ambition is longevity and to simply exist in their happy bubble. They're well on their way to solidifying this existence and Polack attributes their deep musical bond to the age at which they first connected. "Meeting in our formative years sort of just lent itself to this relationship being very music-centric, the way teenagers can bond over music in a very deep way," he explains. "But what set it apart is that this relationship basically kept going for 15 years of just sharing music and being so excited by each other's discoveries."

Polack and Davis' insatiable curiosity and creative drive are sharpened by this shared lifetime of official and unofficial musical education which inevitably means there's even more to explore beyond Planet Pearl. "I still feel that we have a lot of discoveries and experimenting to do in the studio," Davis sweetly threatens. "And as songwriters too, there's just so much we still have to say and do – we haven't said our last."