It's Not Pearl Charles' Birthday (At All)

Steely Dan reincarnated with a clever song about deceit and narcissism.

I’ve been listening to Desert Queen, the latest Pearl Charles album which features her new single Birthday, for months on Bandcamp and vinyl. I love that she withholds the streaming versions for a while. It feels brave in an era when streaming was claimed to be a fabulous answer to Napster piracy. Some independent artists have now started to compare the streamers to a new sort of pirate, ironically. Anyway, to the music! It turns out that the single Birthday hits the streamers today.

Rolling Stone

This track sounds amazing on headphones or on a proper sound system. It’s a got a really nice groove for some disco dancing, bringing the trademark Pearl Charles sound. She has clearly indicated Steely Dan as an influence for this song. It’s only when you’re starting to enjoy yourself, thinking how boppy and light this all is, when Pearl delivers her killer twist: it’s not actually their birthday at all. That person is no kind of friend, when it matters.

There’s a beautiful sax on this track straight from the off, and a loud, throbbing bass and kick drum. Of course I reviewed it as part of my Desert Queen deep-dive. But space was short then. This is all I wrote.

This is a really cool jazzy song with a saxophone. Pearl at the show if it was anyone’s birthday but it was sort of a trick question. In this song, a very unreliable friend or partner goes around pretending to everyone that it’s his birthday to get attention. He wants his name up in lights. It’s all me, me, me. He’s a fraud.

Yes, that’s the trick. This is a song about an egotistical someone, perhaps a romantic partner, perhaps a friend, colleague, or anyone else in your life, who would even stoop so low as pretending to have a birthday just to get attention.

An interesting aspect of most Pearl Charles gigs is that she stands and plays guitar for the first half, and then sits at the keyboard for the second half. This gives a distinctly different and more laid-back, disco feel to the end of the show.

Rolling Stone

Pearl Charles is so busy that I can barely keep up with all her shows and interviews. Since I last wrote about her music Pearl has released her Paris 2025 concert on YouTube, link below. She is also popular in Germany and recently performed at Static Roots, as well as appearing on a thoughtful and gripping panel there which you can read about and listen to here.

Every little detail of the Pearl Charles experience is thought through. She is never seen without her trademark cowgirl hat. Her stage outfit featuring the star-spangled banner is a one-off designer piece. The same guy designs her tote bags merch which I can safely tell you is the best merch tote I have ever seen. It’s enormous!

I’ve had the immense fortune to get to know Pearl Charles and her co-conspirator Michael Rault this year (mainly via DM) and they are two of the most authentic artists you can imagine.

Michael’s reputation as a producer and engineer for The Wandering Hearts, Same Ol’ Smile, Hannah Telle, and The Nude Party is growing by the day. Their house in the desert of Joshua Tree, CA is also a recording studio which they call Taurus Rising! Yes, Pearl is the bull. I hope she will not mind me revealing the shocking news that she loves the colour orange just as much as I do. It seems bizarre, but that’s the way the universe is. I cannot wait to see them both again when they play Islington, London, in November.

You can read all my other pieces about Pearl Charles for free here, and tickets are still available for her show with Neal Francis the day after bonfire night! (Neal seems partial to orange too…)