The fantastical Georgia-native, primitive pop band Of Montreal will hit the High Dive stage Tuesday night with Pearl and the Oysters and Christina Schneider’s Genius Grant.
Opening band Pearl and the Oysters was built by French duo Juliette Davis and Joachim Polack. The transplant artists have been in Gainesville performing with local musicians for several months now, and they released their first album in September.
The self-titled collection of a dozen retro-electro pop tunes brings a unique dimension to the Gainesville music scene that has been recognized from Atlanta to New Orleans to Dallas.
The band’s signature mix of instrumentals, ethereal vocals and heavy doses of synthetic embellishment led Polack to the descriptor “laser gun pop.”
“The idea emerged from, like, really having a sound with some weirdness in it. Even if the songwriting is classic in a way, we like adding those touches of originality and craziness,” Davis said.
Making music was always in the cards for Davis and Polack, who recall growing up in deeply musical families. Davis’ father, a Berklee College of Music alumnus and French Jazz musician, instilled in his daughter a fierce love of jazz. High school, where Davis and Polack met, introduced the duo to their love of pop.
In previous bands, Davis and Polack stuck to a more traditional style, but with Pearl and the Oysters, the duo uncovered a way to combine the diversity of their musical passions into something cohesive and individual.
“People like that. We like that,” Davis said.
“We decided, let’s be true to what we actually like because people respond more to honesty, I feel,” Polack said. “Even if it’s a weird project, they can tell that we’re actually into it.”
The influence of both jazz and pop thrives in songs like “My Baby Grand” and “Melinda Melinda,” along with the spirit of early electronic music from the ’60s, particularly in “Lake Alice,” Pearl and the Oysters’ homage to the Gainesville landmark.
In fact, much of the album was inspired by Davis and Polack’s move to Florida and the romantic reputation of the Sunshine State.
“The animals, the nature, good weather all year long — it’s something that is so exotic for us,” Davis said.
“It hasn’t lost the magic that it had when we first moved here,” Polack said.
As for Tuesday night’s show, the night of explorative pop begins at 8:30 p.m., with doors opening at 8 p.m. Tickets for the show can be purchased in advance for $17 on ticketfly.com or $20 on the day of the show.
