Review: Jemina Pearl – Break It Up (2009)
Jemina Pearl, frontwoman of the late punk outfit Be Your Own Pet, had a couple of good records over the past few years, and I was poised to pounce all over this solo effort and tear it to shreds, as I was certain it was going to be pretty piss-poor; I imagined fake punk studio stand-in instrumentation that was completely devoid of any trace of legitimacy. Everyone has that love-to-hate tendency about something or another, music critics doubly so. Needless to say, as this is a short review and the score is already visible (not that the reader doesn’t often check the score before reading, anyway), I was pleasantly surprised to find a somewhat convincing depth behind this young lady’s solo writing. She crosses the melody of Debbie Harry with the poise and resounding yelp of Johnny Rotten, but never leans too far toward ripping either one off.
Jemina actually pulled some all-star talent here, even though it sounds like a laundry list of name-drops straight out of Juno: Iggy Pop sings with her on “I Hate People” and Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore was in the video for it. Her swagger alone makes her ten times more believable than Katy Perry, and though she lacks the insane vocal talent of Hayley Williams, she’s got a rough-hewn tangibility that neither of the other two can replicate; the choruses are fantastic to sing along to, the guitars are loud, and the lyrics are lovelorn and burnt at the edges. The kind of focus you get from having a unified group with a developed sound is somewhat diminished without her former bandmates, but the album is something of a modest success.
The exaggerated coughing outro for “So Sick!” is only enough of a subtle nod to AC/DC’s “The Jack” as to make you question whether it’s just coincidence, and therein lies the some of the charm. Miss Pearl obviously isn’t breaking any new ground, either in her own career or in the punk aesthetic, but it’s a pretty fun record, and undoubtedly an equally engaging live show.
Jemina Pearl’s “Looking For Trouble,” from Break It Up.
