Something for The Weekend: The Pearls

All three members of the group - Claire O’Brien, Melissa Power and Amy Blake - met while studying Music in UCC and today was their first time to perform in a major concert as The Pearls.

All three members of the group - Claire O’Brien, Melissa Power and Amy Blake - met while studying Music in UCC and today was their first time to perform in a major concert as The Pearls.

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Haunting harmonies, mesmerising melodies and a vibe that whispers pure class...

 

Anyone lucky enough to have come along to UCC’s (free) lunchtime concert in the Aula Maxima today Friday 16 November was spellbound by the vocal mastery and visual originality of newly formed UCC group, The Pearls. The all-female trio of singer-songwriters from UCC’s School of Music and Theatre entranced a mix of students, staff and townspeople with their delicately woven songs of love, loss, desire and longing.

All three members of the group - Claire O’Brien, Melissa Power and Amy Blake - met while studying Music in UCC and today was their first time to perform in a major concert as The Pearls.

Claire is from Cork and is already making a name for herself as a performer and songwriter. She received a Doc Gleeson award earlier this year for outstanding vocal performance. Melissa completed the BMus at UCC earlier this year and is currently studying for an MA in Ethnomusicology. Melissa’s singing and songwriting influences range from Irish traditional music to bluegrass. Amy is from Dublin and completed the MA in ethnomusicology at UCC in September this year. She has explored numerous vocal styles and is most influenced by folk singers such as Laura Marling and Joni Mitchell. Some of the earlier songs featured in the concert recalled that other UCC Music graduate, eccentric genius Julie Feeney. (Speaking of eccentric, Amy is a dead ringer for vocalist Florence Welch, and it was appropriate that the group finished with the only cover of the concert, Welch’s ‘Cosmic Love’.)

There’s an old-world mystique about The Pearls and their vintage tea dresses, retro corsages and pale visages complemented perfectly their tales of melancholy and heartbreak. (In only one track - Amy’s ‘So Lovely’ - did they leave the dark minor keys behind for something slightly more upbeat.)

The Pearls have just produced their first eponymous CD, which forms part of Fuaim Futures 1; New Music from UCC.  

Check out their Facebook Link: https://www.facebook.com/Melancailini

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