David Scott : vocals, keyboards, guitar and bass
Jim Gash : drums and vocals
Stuart Kidd : guitar and vocals
Gabriel Telerman : guitar
Deepak Bahl : bass
Lawrence Dunn: violin
Alison Lucas: violin / viola
Tom Prentice: viola
Wendy Weatherby: cello
Colin Steele: Trumpet
Allon Beauvoisin: Sax, Flute, Clarinet
Brian Molley: Sax, Flute
Influences
Paul McCartney
Brian Wilson
Burt Bacharach
Todd Rundgren
Joni Mitchell
Kraftwerk
Sounds Like
Todd Rundgren
BMX Bandits (with good reason - David's a Bandit too)
The Pernice Brothers
The Monkees
Richard Hawley
Aberfeldy
Teenage Fanclub
The Flaming Lips
Mercury Rev
Norman Blake and David Scott - Hammond Song (live at Carnegie Hall, 2008) Even on a Sunday Afternoon (promo video - 1997)
Wake up everybody, they are back back back: After an extended hiatus, Glasgow’s The Pearlfishers return refreshed and all improved with Up With The Larks, their sixth album for Marina Records - the latest in a line of orch-pop masterpieces including Across The Milky Way, Sky Meadows and A Sunflower At Christmas. The album is clear evidence that main Pearlfisher David Scott continues his unique musical journey with renewed joy and verve - and that classic songwriting and well- crafted arrangements are alive and well in 2007.
Joyous title track, Up With The Larks kick starts the day, “shattered and blue in splinters and sparks”, rich with trademark Pearlfishers lush vocal harmonies, multi-layered guitar texture, the wild jangle of a battered upright piano and exquisite melodic twists and turns. Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake co-produced four of the album’s cuts, starting with The Bluebells – not a tribute to once famous Scottish popsters but a beautiful, string-laden rumination on the turning of seasons.
One act who do indeed receive a full-blooded name-check are Womack And Womack in a song titled, aptly enough, Womack And Womack which recalls Scott’s early days running with the hawks of the major music industry (“...left the school and joined a band, like other lads across the land, gladly kissed the corporate hand...”).
Morning breaks again in Ring The Bells For A Day, complete with the glittering Big Star chime of massed Fender Stratocaster, an exultation to “cast the night away”and a line written in tribute to one of Scott’s enduring heroes, Brian Wilson: “Wherever you lie down, wherever you wake up, the world follows”. The Pearlfishers 2006 Japanese tour with BMX Bandits is thrillingly recounted in The Umbrellas Of Shibuya, a song which takes its reference point from Michel Legrand’s classic movie opera “The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg” but locates itself in a Tokyo rainstorm – with neon puddles, painted in Morricone banjos, Sakamoto synth blooms, Nilsson mouth music and, most tellingly, Scott’s truly unique sense of melody and structure. Another highlight is the Randy Newman-esque With You On My Mind which sounds like a lost Tin Pan Alley classic arranged by Van Dyke Parks. London’s In Love could be the theme song to an as-yet-to-be-made romantic comedy blockbuster starring the new Cary Grant, set in the “blue black air”of Britain’s capital – full of promise and heartbreak.
The Pearlfishers, firmly rooted in the classic tradition of three minute cinematics as pioneered by Webb, McCartney and, recently Rufus Wainwright, reach a great finale with the album’s two closing songs: Blue Riders On The Range, a sparkling widescreen epic (sounding like Marvin & Diana doing “RAM”) and the gorgeous, pastoral I Just See The Rainbow which ends the album on an optimistic note. “And call me cock-eyed if you will, but I don’t see that dark hill, I just see the rainbow...”. The only way is UP!
David Scott toured Germany, Austria and Switzerland with Norman Blake during October and November 2007 as part of the Sit Down and Sing Tour. The Umbrellas Of Shibuya is also available as a limited 7”.
Sunday December 13th at the Captain's Rest in Glasgow- Special acoustic sets from BMX BANDITS, SNOWGOOSE and ASHLEY LITTLE. Tickets £6. Doors are at 8p.m.
Hi David, just thought I should say I really enjoy your songs. I've bought some songs on iTunes, but are planning on getting some CDs, as the Marina artwork is always so lovely. Take care.
One of my first ever gigs was supporting you a King Tuts with my old band Blind Pew about ten trillion years ago!
I thought you might like to see my new band's latest video for the song 'Say You Do (Everybody's Naked)', fortunately we kept our clothes on for the duration. It's Scottish pop to the max!
THE FIVE ACES ROCKIN’ DANCE PARTY. A night of rockin’ soul, rock n’ roll and rhythm & blues featuring live music from The Five Aces, The Bottleneckers and The Privates Hammond Orchestra. Mikey Collins will be DJing which makes this an unofficial pre club to the last night of the mod weekender. Tickets £5. Doors at 7pm, 1st band onstage at 7.45pm sharp Last band offstage by 10pm latest.
Hi David, hope we're going to get a new album or something soon! still love "up with the larks" it's one of my favourite pearlies records but been listening to "Sky Meadows" too the last few weeks, thats a great record also.
Hi David... Just to say I love the live stuff from the gig in glasgow on Youtube... It comes over so well... Muso question now tho... What's the
Model of the Korg keyboard you play? It sounds lush... and mines getting a bit tired...
Hi there! We've got a new EP that we're especially proud of called Summer which is the second in our series of seasonal EPs this year. We'd love for you to listen to the EP online, and to do so, just click on the graphic below. If you like what you hear, we'd be very grateful if you'd support our efforts by buying the EP for €2.50 (around $3.20).
Hope all is going great for you. Thanks for being our friend!
