Alexandra Savior in Lola's Room
Crystal Ballroom
∙
Portland
Monday, May 10 at 7 pm PDT
Concert Venue
Monday, May 10 at 7 pm PDT
Concert Venue
Entry Options
Details
Description
*Tickets from the postponed February 12 show will be honored.songwriter from Portland, Oregon. Developing an eclectic musical taste during her teens, Savior became interested in writing her own songs at the age of 14. Inspired by a broad range of artists such as Otis Redding, Jack White, Amy Winehouse, and Etta James, she began penning her own lyrics and figuring out her artistic direction by logging melody ideas and different guitar techniques via tape recorder.
She first garnered industry attention in 2012, when she uploaded a cover of folk-blues musician Angus Stone's "Big Jet Plane." Earning praise from Courtney Love, the magnetic performance also landed the young creative on the radar of multiple industry representatives. The following year, she scrapped her original plans of attending art school and relocated to Los Angeles to pursue her music career more directly. The same year also saw further praise from established artists, particularly from Grammy-nominated Linda Perry, who compared her to Fiona Apple.
Toward the end of 2013, Savior had signed with Columbia Records and begun to work on more material. Subsequently, the label sent some of her material to Arctic Monkeys' Alex Turner to propose a possible collaboration in order to establish Savior's sound further. With radically different songwriting structures and style, Turner's approach began to hone the young singer's songs along a specific route, more accurately encapsulating Alexandra's sound, which she describes as "being in the middle of the desert, and being abducted...[a]nd opening up into a desert realm, where there's a bar with nobody in it, a dark red light in the corner, with a woman crooning in a long black dress." Such a description exemplified the songwriter's artistic sensibility and visual approach to her art overall, as opposed to purely focused on the sound of it.
Throughout 2014 and 2015, she got to work on her first full-length effort (under the working title of Strange Portrait) with Turner and producer James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco (Foals, Depeche Mode). Her first demo, "Risk," then appeared on the second season soundtrack of HBO's popular anthology crime drama True Detective. Billed on the soundtrack as Alexandra McDermott, she then decided to use her middle name as her last for her stage persona, based on a suggestion from Turner. Savior eventually changed the album's title to Belladonna of Sadness, which arrived in April of 2017. The record was promoted by the singles "Shades," "M.T.M.E.," "Mystery Girl," and "Mirage" ahead of the record's release. ~ Rob Wacey, Rovi
-Pearl Charles
Pearl Charles lives in the moment, seeking excitement whether it leads her down a dark, dusty road or into the arms of a trouble-making lover. Her full-length debut album, Sleepless Dreamer, describes late night revelry, love affairs, running away and running towards, serenading the sunrise through whirlwind stories of her native Los Angeles, the city, the canyon, the desert, and the road. On a quest to discover the truest version of herself,
Charles embraces the feeling of not being settled, a person who always restlessly wants more from life and is willing chase it, wherever it may lead her. Charles has been playing music since she was five years old. At 18, she formed country duo The Driftwood Singers with Christian Lee Hutson, singing and playing guitar and autoharp. At 22, she joined garage rock band The Blank Tapes as drummer. After two fun-filled years immersed in the rock and roll lifestyle, she decided it was time to pursue her own songwriting, and began developing the songs that formed 2015’s eponymous debut EP on Burger Records. Her music career has been a chronological progression from old time music to 60’s garage and psychedelia, and now more 70’s country rock and 80’s smooth rock. Drawn to catchy, poppy hooks and choruses, Charles draws on what she loves about each era while developing her unique style as a musician, singer, and songwriter.