Photo courtesy of Pearly Drops.
Welcome to SOUND ADVICE, Interview’s weekly destination for playlists curated by our friends, enemies, and lovers. In recent weeks, we’ve featured playlists from Adéla, Jim-E Stack, PinkPantheress, and director Zach Cregger. This week’s installment comes courtesy of Pearly Drops, the breakout indie-electronic duo comprised of Sandra Tervonen and Juuso Malin. The Voices Are Coming Back, their third full-length album out on August 29th, takes listeners on an adventure marked by fever-dream instrumentals and filtered, elven-like vocals. Even as they hail all the way from Helsinki, Los Angeles provided the inspiration for their new record: “saturated in surrealism, a little menacing, a little magical,” they say. To mark the occasion, Tervonen and Malin made us a playlist of everything from recent inspirations to songs that make them both horny and sad.
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Where do you dance?
TERVONEN: On stage or Charli xcx’s mosh pit.
MALIN: Live on stage.
What’s your synth of choice?
TERVONEN: Either Roland Juno 106 (1984) or Sequential Prophet 10. The latter is pure luxury, while Juno feels like having Angelo Badalamenti’s Twin Peaks soundtrack at our fingertips.
MALIN: Moog Minimoog Model D. It’s practically on every one of our songs.
Describe Helsinki in three words.
TERVONEN & MALIN: Clean, windy and honest.
Who are your biggest fashion inspirations?
TERVONEN: Madonna during the Ray of Light era. Or Olivier Assayas’ 2002 film Demonlover.
MALIN: It definitely varies, but basically anyone who dares to experiment without worrying about being cool.
Name an artist you wish more people knew about:
TERVONEN & MALIN: Aziya.
Which song from the playlist makes you cry?
TERVONEN & MALIN: “Sears Tower” by SALEM.
Which song on this playlist makes you horny?
TERVONEN & MALIN: “Sears Tower” by SALEM.
What does your notes app look like?
MALIN: A lot of lyrics, as well as life advice for myself that I’ll never remember to look at again.
TERVONEN: Same. A lot of quickly scribbled lyric ideas. And way too many to-do lists.
Dream collab, dead or alive.
TERVONEN: Julee Cruise and Bladee.
MALIN: I would’ve loved to collab with MF Doom and David Lynch.
How do you settle creative disputes?
MALIN: Often we’re on the same page right from the start, without even much discussion. But sometimes we both have such a strong different vision that we just have to flip a coin.
TERVONEN: I guess in the end we usually realize that one of us was right all along. Whatever we do, we don’t compromise.
What’s your all-time favorite film score?
TERVONEN: Ugh, it’s so hard to just choose one! But Vangelis’ soundtrack for Blade Runner is one that I always found to be very beautiful and iconic. “Rachel’s Song” on the soundtrack has to be one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written.
MALIN: Goblin made so many great scores for Dario Argento. Also, Giorgio Moroder and Angelo Badalamenti have just too many good OSTs. Impossible to choose. Let’s say Tenebrae by Goblin.
Your LP is called The Voices Are Coming Back. Describe the voice in your head:
TERVONEN: [phone disconnecting]
MALIN: “Did you leave the stove on?”
What do you absolutely need in the studio?
MALIN: Friendliness, if you work with other people. Also a lot of inspiration, which can be gained from, for example, aesthetically pleasing tools.
TERVONEN: I think inspiration is the only necessity, and if I could, I would only work on music when I actually have the urge to. Because that’s usually when the best things happen. But, especially in the case of working with other people, sometimes the personalities and talent of others may give you a sudden burst of inspiration, even if you walked into the studio totally drained.
Fuck, marry, kill—types of reverb.
TERVONEN & MALIN: We’d definitely fuck the Knas Ekdahl Moisturizer, marry the Valhalla DSP’s VintageVerb and kill any reverb without the dry/wet knob.
The world is ending. What are you wearing?
TERVONEN: The biggest, comfiest hoodie I own, probably.
MALIN: Anything from Raf Simons FW16.
