Sleepless Dreamer by Pearl Charles
As Pearl Charles gets her luggage together for another trip to Europe with Michael Rault, I sense that she needs a rest from America.
Pearl’s social posts have started to question the imagery of the star-spangled banner, her current stage outfit of choice. She has started to question social media, the influence of streaming, and other modernities. I feel she would have found the 1970s a reassuringly less complicated decade. The only way I can pay tribute to her optimism or, at least, the optimism she makes us all feel through her music, even if she does not always feel it herself, is to write about it.
My answer to any American musician questioning their place in the world is always to suggest a couple of years in England. Sure, I can’t offer them a desert or a cactus, but have they heard of Dorset? Or the Lake District? What about North Yorkshire, home to both Dracula and the Brontë sisters? I defy any tourist to see Whitby Abbey at night and then jump on a plane back to America.
I am new to the Pearl Charles back catalogue and fan club, which might go some way to explaining my thrill at hearing her first two albums. It is all new music to me. I joined the party during the Desert Queen album release tour in June, and feel excited by her music and outlook. It is one of the few albums of 2025 that both Mrs Tennessee Vibes and myself agree on. Whatever these guys are doing, it started off great and is steadily improving with time.
Let’s take a look at Sleepless Dreamer and no, I’m not streaming it. I have the Bandcamp download on in the background and if she brings this and her second album, Magic Mirror, on vinyl with her to London next month, I will take them both!
All The Boys is the first album track of Pearl’s first album. It’s catchy AF. But it’s not a happy time.
Couldn’t lose you, if I tried
Wherever I go, you’re right behind
So, baby, if I seem tired
It’s ‘cause you ran me down to the wire
This is claustrophobic Pearl, trapped in the shadow of her guy. But not only her current guy. Why is it that all these boys seem to act the same all the time? They won’t give her the space she needs. Is she a woman or a girl? Are they man enough to cope with an actual independent woman? The answer is clearly no, little boy.
Beginner’s Luck is just as catchy, and we haven’t even arrived at my most favourite track on this album, which is up next. One of the things I like most about Pearl’s music is that I never truly, fully understand all the nuances of her lyrics.
I can do a surface trawl, and then dig a little deeper, and walk away satisfied that I’ve figured her out. Then, weeks or months later, she talks on TikTok about the ‘real’ meaning and it is at least ten floors below ground-level. When I thought I had gone deep, I was still floating on the surface.
No one man owns me, I don’t get lonely
And it’s hard to find somebody willing
With all of that said, I am going to stick my neck out and say that this is a response to the first song. She’s managed to get rid of that guy who wouldn’t give her space. She admits she doesn’t feel loneliness. Artists seldom do. It is one of the reasons we are nearly impossible to live with. It is a song about deception, about mirrors and smoke, and distractions. The great news, the silver lining, is that Pearl has moved on since 2018 and is in a different place now, perhaps an even more creative place.
Sleepless Dreamer is one I think we have to take more or less at face value. It’s another catchy tune, a lovely melody and a simple lyric repeated over and over. Easily my favourite.
Is there anyone left in this sea of a city, city by the sea?
I keep running ‘round the same old ground
Hoping my hand is gonna come up something other than empty
Keep ending up just me
But what on earth is a sleepless dream? And is it more of a nightmare? Is this a song about loneliness? You see, you really cannot make any assumptions.
Long Hair is the song I listened to endlessly when I was reviewing the remake of Deja Vu by The Wandering Hearts. Almost Cut My Hair on that album led to all kinds of reflections and memories which you can read more about below.
Only in America would probably be interpreted differently now. Remembering that this is a 2018 album, pre-pandemic but during Trump I, we have to read between her lines. It’s one of the songs that best demonstrates why I appreciate Pearl so much. Whatever she is saying, however deep or sad or depressing, the melody and her voice always make you feel happier.
Ghost is the perfect Halloween tune. She’s only pretending to be a ghost, and it’s so fast and trippy that you won’t be scared, not at first.
Do you think this is all we have left to believe in?
When we dream, is this all we have left to believe in?
I can feel there’s so much more than we’re seeing
Night Tides is more of a jazzy jam. If you have seen Pearl live you will know that she usually stands with her guitar for the first half, and then sits at the keyboard for the second disco half. This feels like a second half track to me.
I wanted something, I wanted it bad
I wanted something I just couldn’t have
Now that I know, can’t give it back
The weight was more than I could stand
This is one of the tracks I had in mind above when I wrote about depth. It’s a good thing the music is so light and airy, because it is possible to interpret these lyrics in quite a dark way. The music helps to reassure us: I’m not as dark as I might have been.
Blue-Eyed Angel is one of Pearl’s best Christine McVie moments and it took many years to complete. I really love this song. Any mention of angels and devils will inevitably lead me to recall Fleetwood Mac, a band which has inspired both of us in all kinds of different ways. I can say I got there first, age being on my side here, but I never fell quite as hard. I was a Tango teenager, before Pearl was even born.
Oh, the blue-eyed angel
Are you really just the devil in disguise?
Oh, blue-eyed angel
I can feel you, but it don’t feel right
Behind Closed Doors is a song about confusion. The last line pretty much sums it all up.
A trick of thе light
Made me think you were mine
At various stages in this song, each party thinks they had the other one figured out. They were both wrong. But at least this track picks up the tempo and the mood again after a couple of reflective songs.
Phases has obvious moon connotations. There’s a sadness, a wistfulness in this album that I did not sense on Desert Queen. The tunes are invariably upbeat, some are fast. But the more you study the words, the deeper and sadder they get.
And I am changing
Like the phases of the moon
And time can’t save us
Maybe I’m letting go too soon
That’s all I can do
All the songs on Sleepless Dreamer stand out individually and yet form part of a whole. It is a properly crafted old-school album with two clear halves. One of the great mysteries about Pearl Charles is how her work is immediately identifiable and yet completely different from all her other songs. How does she find such variety?
To me, unfortunately, the notion of a sleepless dreamer conjures unpleasant memories of insomnia, I condition I began my own 2025 with. But as 2026 shimmers on the highway ahead, I am thrilled to be writing my own two-volume book about Fleetwood Mac, and revisiting Pearl’s early albums as I go. There might even be a little collab in that direction that may be announced later. What a year it has been. I know that Desert Queen took a while to release due to the pandemic, among other things, so I am confident that we will not have long to wait for even more brilliant new music.
I almost can’t bear to stop writing about Pearl Charles, so just for good measure I booked a ticket to her Islington, London appearance on 6th November supporting Neal Francis who (it turns out) is really strong too!
Desert Queen by Pearl Charles
I've been having an absolute blast with Pearl Charles for the last couple of weeks. The midpoint in our short relationship was at Hackney's Moth Club on the night when Beyoncé kicked off her London residency. The best people were at the Moth that night