Cascine
A Little Disaster is a title that feels evocative of the state of the world, an almost winking attempt at some black gallows humour. Finnish music duo Pearly Drops work best in dark, neo-noir atmospheres, creating edgy pop music that has drawn comparisons with Canadian musician Grimes, arguably the queen of gloomy pop music, and A Little Disaster finds them in similar form. But hidden in the gloom are shimmering melodies, twisting the songs into anxiety-laden bedroom dance anthems.
Pearly Drops’ ethereal landscapes and synth-ridden textures borrow heavily from the eighties, but similarly to their debut album, 2020’s Call For Help, A Little Disaster is filled with contemporary touches. Sandra Tervonen and Juuso Malin used to operate under the moniker Femme En Fourrue, creating intimate, dance-inducing electronic music. Under the guise of Pearly Drops, they cleverly fuse their electronic afflictions with guitar melodies and A Little Disaster is filled with moody head-boppers.
Call For Help was an impressive debut, a completely self-produced piece of dark new-wave, but A Little Disaster feels less abrasive, the melodies more accessible, and the reach of the hooks a bit longer. The haunting edge is still there, and the whole record brims with anxiety, caught in the liminal spaces of emotion, drifting between hope and angst without calling either its home. Visual messages are important to the duo, with Sandra creating the album’s cover art herself, and A Little Disaster feels like a series of watercolour sketches, the textures a little grainy, the meanings elusive.
On the opener, the eminently catchy ‘Feed The Fire’, Sandra sings: “I like it here in the dark/’Cause you have made me ugly”, and she sounds worn down; the only fire burning is the warmth of the bass, its melody burning through brightly. Fire seems to be a prevalent image throughout, ‘My Ashes Blow Away’ has a similarly saccharine melody, and Sandra seems similarly hurt: “Lately you have made me insane/Hurt me with your face”. The ashes seemingly represent her emotional scars, and she repeatedly sings, “I’ll Wait”. Healing is often a game of patience.
She sounds especially sombre on the hazy, hypnotising ‘I Cry While You Sleep’, her voice seemingly devoid of hope: “No one can really make me shine/I pass on after a lingering life”. Darkness is a pervading theme of the record, always lurking around the corner, ready to engulf. Over the skittish drums of ‘It Follows’, she struggles to enjoy the good times, recognising they are fleeting and will soon “Go off into the night”. Over the bubbling synths of ‘Take Me Down’, she sings: “Take me down/Before I crash”, and as her voice rises with the bassline, it feels like a plea for help.
However, there’s an assertive edge to her voice on ‘Take Me Down’, and she’s even more defiant on ‘Get Well’, where a jaunty synth line belies some violent imagery: “Kick my head in/Cut off my eyelids”. It’s a brief break from the claustrophobic feelings which dominate, best expressed in ‘Kiss Away The Pearly Drops’: “My mind is dry/I’m living in a coffin/I’m giving all, yet I’m getting nothing”. But on the song’s euphoric chorus, it feels like Sandra is shedding some of her pain or at least dancing it away.
Occasionally the swirling synths and fuzzy guitars can feel a little samey, with songs meshing into each other, and unfortunately, Sandra’s voice has that dreamy, hypnotic quality that means you get lost in where the songs start and finish. But there are some lovely experimental flashes, such as the trap-like beats of ‘One-Woman Boy Band’ and the glitchy, electronic-driven spoken word finale ‘Big Trouble’. But it’s ‘Heath’ that really shines through, with its propelling, juddering beats and warm guitar riffs, while Sandra varies her delivery between sultry and sweet.
A Little Disaster represents another impressive step forward from the duo, with the songwriting elevated to another level, drifting between haunting mantras, sparky wordplay, and sometimes beguiling imagery. Things may be very foggy, and occasionally the song’s atmospheres seep into a never-ending cloak, but the duo’s melodies slice through, creating a brand of pop music that is exciting, enticing, and accessible.