Pearl Matador, a French artist with Malian roots, is an alt-rock/bedroom pop artist who lets his inspirations and personal experience run across all his music. He is an artist who prides himself on doing multiple genres and reflecting the relatable emotional experiences of those who are a part of his generation. His latest single, “Neurotic” is one whose soundscape captures a feeling of weightlessness but it goes beyond that too.
“The song was inspired by an old Korean movie called Empty Dream. The movie is about a man and woman who meet at a dentist office and have a shared dream while under sedation. The movie has a lot of psychedelic aspects and that inspired me visually. I also used clips from the movie in my music video for the song.” he said.
The ethereal, almost hypnotizing feeling of “Neurotic” is exactly what Pearl Matador was going for when he created the song. The tranquil melody of the song is the core source of this feeling and he shared that he wants people to go into a dreamlike state when they listen because dreams are sometimes memories. He even specifically referenced the widely circulated meme of Spongebob floating with earbuds in his ears to comedically but accurately articulate the dreamlike state listeners should enter when listening to his music.
Pearl Matador shared that movies are one of his biggest inspirations for music and that several of the songs on his upcoming album Black Magic are inspired by movies. With soundscapes that feel auditorily cinematic, this comes as no surprise as the throughline for both is seamless across his music.
“I’ve been discovering a lot of music from movie directors. Edgar Wright is one of my favorite directors because of the creative music choices he uses for his movies.” he said.
Pearl Matador is not only navigating the independent music scene but he’s always just navigating being a twentysomething living life day-to-day. With this comes him being the voice of others in his generation, who often experience feelings of loneliness, addiction and abandonment. By sharing these emotions with the world, he wants people to know what they’re going through.
“I think social media and COVID are both driving factors for an addiction to entertainment. Our generation is very addicted to entertainment. Personally, I have to have a YouTube video on when doing tasks like cooking and even when falling asleep. And I found out I wasn’t the only one like this. It was a generational thing. And I think it’s a little scary too. It relates to how we connect with each other from a social aspect too.” he said.
Pearl Matador rides the line between alt-rock and bedroom pop with other subgenes in between. His first album, Apollo, found him searching for a sound that worked for him and he dropped three EPs after it - all in different musical lanes.
“I consider Black Magic my first real album because I’ve found what I like playing on this album. That applies to my guitar and all the instrumentation on the album. With the Apollo album, I was just putting music out there quickly and seeing what would come next. I would continue trying out different sounds because my first EP was chill soft rock, the second was more pop and the third was grunge rock.” he said.
Having multiple inspirations and a love for music of all kinds was a driving force for Pearl Matador but his upcoming album is much more focused and implements everything he learned from those previous projects.
“I have a lot of musical ideas when I’m composing music but I try to limit myself. I don’t want it to be too much. I just take what I have and focus on making something original.” he said.
Pearl Matador said that Black Magic is his best album so far with it being the most visual and most inspired and will be the one to let the world discover who Pearl Matador is.
“Neurotic” is out now and Black Magic is scheduled to release in November.
You can experience the world of Pearl Matador by following him on these platforms.
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