Pearl & The Oysters | Brighton
Pearl & The Oysters Brighton
Pearl & The Oysters live in Brighton at ALPHABET on 21st November! Get tickets above, or from SeeTickets.
Pearl & The Oysters, the duo of Juliette Pearl Davis (Juju) and Joachim Polack (Jojo), formed a decade ago in Paris, where they lived until they were young adults. Together, they make music a lot like their current base of Los Angeles: sunny on the surface, darker and more layered at its roots. Their fizzy, squiggly lounge pop – now leaning toward ‘70s piano rock as well as Brazilian, exotica and city pop influences – asks how to live with uncertainty and disquiet.
In January 2025, as Trump’s second inauguration loomed and wildfires raged through LA. Juju stayed up all night crying. The next morning, she woke to find that Jojo had written a song for her, “Wide Awake,” a calm offering in the midst of panic. From that moment, the process of creating Monkey Mind began.
Pearl & The Oysters’ new album Monkey Mind takes its title from the Buddhist concept of a restless, looping consciousness: thoughts jumping, spiraling and rarely settling. Produced by Jonathan Rado (Weyes Blood, The Lemon Twigs, Father John Misty), the record follows that cycle across the span of a day, beginning in a state of calm before the mind wakes up, gathers speed, and eventually softens again.
Following a “primal and direct” instinct rather than retreating into long, meticulous processes, Juju and Jojo chose to work quickly, writing their sixth album in a matter of weeks. “We felt a need to tap into a certain urgency and honesty, as a result of our growing malaise with a cultural climate plagued by digital alienation and generative AI slop,” says the duo.
Using the 24-hour framework as a creative constraint, the record opens with Randy Newman-like piano, peaceful and half-asleep, before the energy shifts to the fidgety yacht rock guitar of “Mandarin Moon”, fast-paced instrumental “Shinkansen”, and the frantic ‘70s funk of “Stratford & 52”– the street the duo lived on when they first moved to LA. At the center is Juju and Jojo’s long-standing relationship: on “A Pocket Symphony,” they look back to their creative and romantic partnership, which began in high school.
Juju and Jojo’s eco-anxieties came into immediate focus as they worked on Monkey Mind. LA’s wildfires threatened not just the city but the network of friends and collaborators they had built around them. At the same time, that community, a circle of LA musicians who appear across the album, helped to ground them. The record recognizes both sides of that experience: fear of loss, and relief at not being alone. After years of building intricate, home-recorded worlds, for their new album, Juju and Jojo wanted to open the process up and capture something less controlled. Sharing similar “musical obsessions” including Todd Rundgren, The Beach Boys, Steely Dan, and “early-tronic sonorities”, they knew Jonathan Rado would be the perfect fit. Recording to tape with minimal overdubs meant they could take a “no-demo, no-click, live-to-tape approach, ” which mirrored the rawness and immediacy of the writing process.
“Every day felt like summer camp, ” says Juju. The environment was playful and freeing, and aside from one time when Rado’s poodles got into a stash of Kinder chocolate, the sessions “were all joy,” says Jojo. https://pearlandtheoysters.bandcamp.com/
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Upcoming Love Thy Neighbour shows:
04072026 – My Precious Bunny. Revenge
12072026 – The Sleeves. The Rose Hill
22072026 – Tracey Nelson. The Hope & Ruin
24082026 – Michael Cera Palin. Green Door Store
29082026 – Weird Nightmare. Alphabet
10092026 – Ohtis. The Prince Albert
16092026 – Bratakus. The Prince Albert
19092026 – Immersion. Alphabet
20092026 – Glasshouse Red Spidermite. Prince Albert
21092026 – Jim Ghedi. Green Door Store
01102026 – The Tubs. Chalk
03102026 – Cory Hanson. The Hope & Ruin
06102026 – Skating Polly. The Hope & Ruin
08102026 – Dateline. Prince Albert
10102026 – A Certain Ratio. Lewes Constitutional Club
13102026 – Jake Xerxes Fussell. Concorde 2
17102026 – John Craigie. Alphabet
18102026 – Kacy & Clayton. Prince Albert
20102026 – Pina Palau. The Prince Albert
21102026 – Martha Tilston. Lewes Constitutional Club
22102026 – Kristin Hersh. The Old Market
22102026 – Mr Bruce. Patterns
28102026 – Deradoorian. Hope & Ruin
30102026 – Hollow Hand. Alphabet
31102026 – Penelope Isles. The Hope & Ruin
01112026 – Stu Larsen. The Prince Albert
04112026 – Furrow Collective. Lewes Constitutional Club
04112026 – zzzahara. Green Door Store
08112026 – Alien Boy. The Prince Albert
08112026 – Kiwi Jr. The Hope & Ruin
13112026 – The Boo Radleys. Lewes Constitutional Club
19112026 – Niall McNamee. Prince Albert
21112026 – Pearl & The Oysters. Alphabet
25112026 – Ozric Tentacles. Lewes Constitutional Club
26112026 – Chris Wood. Lewes Constitutional Club
27112026 – Dave McCabe (The Zutons). Lewes Constitutional Club
29112026 – Dylan LeBlanc. Alphabet
04122026 – Mik Artistik’s Ego Trip. Lewes Constitutional Club
05122026 – John Otway. Lewes Constitutional Club
06022027 – Jim Moray. Komedia Brighton
13022027 – Amelia Coburn. Komedia Brighton
19032027 – HENGE. Chalk, Brighton
15042027 – Focus. Lewes Constitutional Club
ACCESSIBILITY : We operate within a Grade-II listed building, built in the 1860s. Although built as a school for working-class children, we do not have the facility to give unencumbered access to users with physical access needs. There are two large staircases to the live room. We are looking to improve our accessibility for all users, any requests for special requirements please do communicate with us and we will endeavour to meet your needs.
Pearl & The Oysters Brighton
Pearl & The Oysters Brighton