‘Act Like Sisters’ by Pearl | New Album, ‘Love And Grief’
There’s a certain kind of tension that only bubbles up in basements and back rooms, the kind where the floor feels like it might give out before the band does.
Pearl have been chasing that feeling for years across Baltimore, and on ‘Act Like Sisters’ they finally bottle it, shake it, and let it explode.
The track is the latest from their upcoming LP ‘Love And Grief,’ out April 20 on 20/20 Records, and it doesn’t ease you in. Flynn Diguardia’s bass lands first, thick and physical, before Jesse Hutchinson snaps the tempo into place. By the time Tommy Rouse’s guitar starts carving its way through the mix, you’re already pinned. The video, directed by Sihan Xu, leans into that claustrophobic heat, all sharp angles and pressure points.
For vocalist Sienna Cureton-Mahoney, the song came from a darker corner.
“’Act Like Sisters’ is the epitome of any horror movie in which the lead actress is pushed to her limits, combusting into a ‘Carrie’ like fury after being manipulated one too many times,” vocalist Sienna Cureton-Mahoney explains. “I channeled these women as I wrote the song, reflecting on the few times when I’ve been confronted with the knowledge of someone I respect fully lying to my face. Should I take the high road or should I burn everything to the ground? This song is about the latter. It’s the metaphorical slap of having trust broken and the violent gut reaction that follows. Each song in the album ‘Love And Grief’ is a different facet on the emotional scale and Act Like Sisters is steeped in rage.”
That sense of combustion runs through the whole band. Critic Steve Johnson puts it this way:
“Flynn Diguardia and Jesse Hutchinson are an intuitive and fluid rhythm section who rather seamlessly (far as I can tell) slide the tempo right where they want it. DiGuardia’s body of work is remarkably diverse… Sienna Cureton-Mahoney’s voice will break into a scream and traffics in a rasp with each syllable clear as sunlight on glass, providing as much texture as Tommy Rouse’s winding procession of power chords.”
Onstage, that interplay feels almost telepathic. Diguardia and Hutchinson stretch and snap the beat without losing the thread. Cureton-Mahoney doesn’t just sing over it; she claws at it, her voice catching in the back of her throat before splitting open into a scream. Rouse’s chords spiral upward, then collapse in on themselves.
If ‘Love And Grief’ maps an emotional spectrum, ‘Act Like Sisters’ sits at the red end, pulse racing, teeth bared. Not catharsis as therapy. Catharsis as fire.
