Jemina Pearl - Break It Up

Jemina Pearl was Be Your Own Pet’s master. Her bratty voice was so much the band’s biggest draw that it would be wrong to call their songs anyone’s but hers.

Now making that mistake is impossible. With her solo debut, Break It Up, Pearl is more poppy and personal than she ever could be with BYOP. Part of doing that is being a bit less like the Ramones and a bit more the Undertones. By twisting pop punk through a ’50s soda jerk’s jukebox, the music keeps safe and friendly.

It is the perfect foil to Pearl’s playfully destructive lyrics. While guitar riffs bounce around during “Band on the Run,” she makes sure to “wave goodbye with a middle finger.” And when “I Hate People (with Iggy Pop)” starts out like a nice love song, Pearl cuts in saying, “I think if I’m lucky I’ll get into a fight,” and later, “just the two of us, alone together, hating everyone.” But you shouldn’t have expected a duet with Pop would be that romantic in the first place.

It’s not that there is never menacing about Pearl’s lyrics. She’s more like a mischievous kid sticking her tongue at you. But when Pearl does decide to act mature, she gives the album its best performances. Over the catchy gloom of “Retrograde,” Pearl sings “cry in the shower, I’m starting to drown.” Compared to the rest of Break It Up, it’s surprising if just for the context it falls in.

It’s when Pearl doesn’t exert herself that the album falters. Songs like “So Sick” could have been taken straight from the BYOP editing room floor. And without a proper musical contrast, her voice becomes pestering like a child who isn’t getting to do what she wants. If Break It Up says anything it’s to let the brat have her way, because when she does it’s more fun for everyone.

Label: Universal Records
Release Date: 10-6-09

- Michael Ronan