London-based rock duo The Pearl Harts recently released Hypocritical the second single to be taken from their second album Love, Chaos (out 21 April, via Double Bang Records), ahead of their UK tour, bringing them to The Edge of the Wedge, Southsea, in May.
Blending amped-up punk motifs with booming alt-pop stylings, Hypocritical sees the two-piece challenging the perceptions of what it means to be a woman making rock music and relishing the freedom. Spirited and sardonic in equal measure, it’s a playful power-pop anthem with a bitter sting in its tail.
The Pearl Harts explain: “Hypocritical is a bratty, fun, scream-a-long song, influenced by the hi-octane pop of Miley Cyrus and Gwen Stefani with the punk attitude of Impeach My Bush-era Peaches. It’s an empowerment song for women and girls taking on the world.”
Following comeback single More, and the Steve Lamacq (BBC 6 Music) and Radio X supported Wild Me, Hypocritical is the third sampler of Love, Chaos.
Teasing the album, the duo say: “Love, Chaos is about saying goodbye to unhealthy patterns that we all identify with in our lives. Be that work, alcohol, sex, drugs, procrastination, love… Whether we like it or not our whole lives are a series of patterns that shape our personality, they can come about through the unconscious, through family dynamics, through everyday interactions and through trauma. Love, Chaos is about realising and accepting this and forging a life beyond.”
Taking listeners on a personal journey of reinvention, ‘Love, Chaos’ also sees the band on a mission to rewrite the narrative for women in the music industry and beyond. “As women in rock’n’roll we have had to fight and unpick a load of history and patterns to accept ourselves as we are today,” they say. Shake off the ‘good girls’ we have been brought up to be’, not to become ‘bad’ but to become our real, true, authentic selves. We are starting a new conscious pattern of how we want to play rock’n’roll our way. We don’t just have to be hard, tough women. We can be sensitive ones too.”
Born out of love and a desire to make hi-octane rock, The Pearl Harts burst onto the scene almost a decade ago. Making a name for themselves with their wild attitude, DIY spirit and incredible live shows, the pair have been praised by the likes of NME (who praised the duo as having “an ear for dynamic riffs and gigantic tunes”) and Clash who lauded “The Pearl Harts have a visceral quality which is difficult to deny”. Garbage’s Shirley Manson is also a certified fan, describing them as “badass girls with all the right stuff”.
With their music heard in hit shows such as the BBC’s Peaky Blinders, the band have also gained radio support from BBC 6 Music, Radio X, and beyond. The Pearl Harts also recently performed a cover of Edwyn Collins’ “A Girl Like You” for BBC Introducing on International Women’s Day.
Having toured extensively across the UK and Europe with the likes of The Kills, Counterfeit, Frank Carter, Garbage and False Heads, The Pearl Harts recently completed their first run of live shows since 2019 for Independent Venue Week. Ready to do it all over again to celebrate the new album, the band will be taking their ‘Love, Chaos’ headline tour out on the road in the UK and Ireland throughout May.
The Pearl Harts UK & Ireland tour dates are:
MAY
03 ST ALBANS The Horn
04 NORWICH Voodoo Daddy’s
16 LONDON The Lower Third
17 BRIGHTON The Prince Albert
18 PORTSMOUTH Edge of the Wedge
19 BRISTOL The Lanes
25 BELFAST Voodoo
26 DUBLIN, The Workmans Cellar
27 LIMERICK Kasbah
Tickets available now here.
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