We recently connected with Violette Larsen and have shared our conversation below.

Violette and Brendan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most meaningful project we have worked on so far is our six song record, which we are in the final stages of mixing and mastering!! Oh man, its been a looong time in the making and it is coming together so beautifully.

When we (Violette and Brendan) first met, the world began shutting down due to Covid very soon after. It was around the same time people began isolating that we decided we wanted to pursue a music project together, and from there during the following Sleepy Pearls came into fruition. We actually created our first demo when we were both hunkered down in our bedrooms, just sending files back and forth trying to learn how to use GarageBand.

This project is a reflection of the times we went through globally, as well as how the two of us we were able to use the music to keep us connected and even grow closer during these strange times. Each song from the record tells an intimate piece of this story, capturing a very special and unique part of our life that we believe many will be able to relate to.

Violette and Brendan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

We are fond of both classic music from the 50s and 60s and our modern day contemporaries pushing the envelope of various genres. Violette has played for multiple groups in the past, ranging from indie folk to protest music. Sleepy Pearls is Brendan’s first public project. The two of us have spent extensive time honing in on what our signature sound is, which at times can be hard to pin down. With that being said, much of our music has a romantic, dreamy, and occasionally melancholy feeling to it. Think Patsy Cline and D’Angelo met at a bar and decided to start making music together…

We want our fans to feel a full spectrum of emotions from our music, whether it be new love, heartbreak, or spirituality. We strive to capture the genuine human condition, with all of its flavors. One of the main goals of our songwriting process is to not shy away from writing about anything that we’re afraid of confronting or avoiding in the moment – in many ways writing together is an opportunity to heal and grow through whatever we may be experiencing.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Initially, we felt pressured to say yes to any and every opportunity that came our way. Through doing this we came to realize what collaborations we do and don’t identify with. In certain instances, we would participate in events that we may have not felt full alignment with, and consequently felt the emotional repercussions of that. There were definitely moments where we were both looking at each other like “what are we doing here?”

Moving forward, we have been clearer on what our values and priorities are as a music group. We also recognize that if we had not put ourselves out there and experienced as much as we could we wouldn’t have the point of reference we do now to discern what we do and don’t want to participate in.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Within the first six months of our journey as a musical partnership, we experienced a break-in that resulted in the loss of nearly all of our musical equipment that we had spent years and years gathering both separately and together. It was a major bummer and in the face of this loss, we were heartbroken and felt like we didn’t have the resources to regain what was taken.

Thank god we had a lot of friends that encouraged us to move forward and showed us just how much they value what we were doing together. We realized during that time that the resilience we experienced didn’t come just from our own internal work but from the amazing community we had surrounded ourselves with. God bless everyone who lent a helping hand, we even had a friend drop off guitars so we could keep on practicing and writing. Still pinching ourselves thinking about the kindness that was shown during that time.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sleepypearls/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBjc5FZIuMi8s7HV4w35ezw

Image Credits
Soph Burns @sophburns IG – https://www.instagram.com/sophburns/