ALBUM REVIEW: “The Voices Are Coming Back“ by Pearly Drops

Ahead of the surreal curve back in twenty-twenty, their first dabbles in synthetic pop have helped pave the way for the fresh Scandinavian new-wave flooding the current European alternative scene. It is in a very consistent trilogy that Sandra Tervonen and Juuso Malin have created a world of their own, deeply rooted in their visual production and media catalog, erupting as they DIY it.

Though the sound hasn’t evolved much throughout the last five years, their development becomes clear concept-wise, presenting full narratives over the mixtape feeling their projects had accustomed to, this new release being fully fleshed-out. All of this manifests itself onto their opening track, Delusional On Sunset Blvd, which immediately takes the listener’s mind to previous releases such as their well-known Bloom For Me and to an entirely new universe at the same time.

Just following, however, comes the much more disco Ratgirl; arguably the latent Hollywood heart of the album, uncanny in unexpected places yet fun overall. Ratgirl melts into Mermaid’s beautiful ambient instrumental, continuing this youthful, unsettling environment with a fantastic mixed use of the piano, guitar and the mermaid-like chants that give name to the song.

The common thread tying together is the previously mentioned chimerical, very LA, feeling in the midst of film symbolism. As the band told Flood Magazine, a cinematic, lynchian journey is intended through songs such as Shallow, evoking an absorbing amalgam of memories, and Demonlover, whose freakish spoken-word outro makes a statement in the Mulholland Drive-esque intention of the LP. Backtracking a bit on the unearthly energy that was built up comes Pillow Face, reminiscent of the band’s rockier tunes like I Cry While You Sleep and Call For Help because of the frail echoes and shoegaze-y reverbs.

This ambience changes tune completely with Cocoon & Tatiana’s Lament, a product of a never-heard-before urban component in Pearly Drop’s discography, entering the rollout as a breath of fresh air about self-doubt and creative block.

Switching the energy at the very last moment plays Silver Lake Mystery Forest, ending the album’s run with a muffled wail that brings the listener out back to reality and its real, human problems regarding self-perception before a wake of noise-core, industrial outro washes materiality away again.

LATEST POSTS: