A couple of weeks back, we wrote about ‘The Difference’, the current single from Brooklyn’s Taylor Pearlstein, signalling the release of her new EP. The full thing is almost here in its full cinematic glory, Pearlstein’s knack for arrangement and storytelling prowess showing that she’s a cut above the rest when it comes to the indie-folk sphere, yet also somehow that she’s just getting started.
Here follows a quote from Pearlstein, diving into the themes behind the 5-song EP: “Perfect Blue tells a disorienting story of self delusion, reality weaving, and over-romanticizing to the edge of our own destruction and misery […] diving deep into our dark desire to be wanted, purely and perfectly. With intentionally oversaturated and distorted orchestration shifted against an exposing reality, we struggle to parse reality from fabrication. These songs were born in a chapter of my life before my fever broke. Since childhood, I have been a craftsman at distorting matters of the heart to survive the currents of my own oceans. “I see the world through storms I brew… I build a place of Perfect Blue.” I think we are all more powerful than we may know when it comes to writing the narratives we need to be true. These songs come from the deepest parts of my own lived heartache, though at the time I had no perspective to see what I see now: they were depths I had carved out myself, in stories I had spun all alone.
1. We start with ‘Sandman’, asking for the comfort of a lie.
2. ‘Back Away’ introduces the atmosphere of isolation. The entire song exists in a bedroom, but distorts far beyond that.
3. ‘Pour Over’ is perhaps the deepest point of delusion. We are on the outside looking in, torturing ourselves. The production almost feels out of place. (“I’m having dreams where all our things never shifted from the shelves / I’m in your house / I’m in your blood / I’m fogging window panes / but sore choices make sore losers / and I still feel you”)
4. “The Difference” is where we get Perfect Blue, coming to, beginning to grasp that just maybe, we are the ones responsible and the only ones who can put an end to this ride.
5. ‘What Gave’ is the moment after fever break. A very intentionally naked track. Full circle back to the street noise of the first track. We see it all, asking the simple question “what was it all for”, offering an apology to those we overwrote in the process of creating our Perfect Blue, and to ourselves.”
It’s a remarkable listen – carve out 25 minutes and listen to the full thing below; we’re delighted to premiere Pearlstein’s new EP ahead of its release tomorrow.
