There are things in life that will always be pleasant. Hot showers, sunny days and music that makes you feel good. Zulu Pearls falls right in line with these pleasant things by creating music that makes you want to move around and at the very least, tap your foot to the rhythm.
This self-titled EP is a nice breather from heavy rotations of rock and pop-centric radio. Not that this music couldn’t easily find its way onto the radio in a good-sized college town. The group plays music like the individual members are actually enjoying it. Though not as quirky as its musical counterparts Modest Mouse, Zulu Pearls take on all forms of rock from dance to indie and execute it in a near-flawless manner.
The album starts off with a toss back to a Gas Huffer-esque dirty boogie intro that gets the listener rolling along in time. The vocals are clean throughout and melodic. I like the fact that the group does not take a single formula and overdo it in the 7 tracks contained on this release. If nothing else, this outing is a great display of the musical ability that this group has. It gives me a bit of hope that they will continue on with this whimsical trend and maybe come up with some truly inspired records...
-Mammoth Press
When I put the debut EP by this local quartet into my iTunes they immediately became the last band listed in my library. Take that, Yvonne Prenosilova! Saying that a recording sounds very professional is usually a backhanded compliment, but that's not the case with Zulu Pearls. The band plays sharp and precise indie rock that would fail to make much of an impact if it wasn't at least a little dressed up. The seven-song album was recorded at two of the most venerable studios in the country -- Arlington's Inner Ear and San Francisco's Tiny Telephone -- and the benefits are apparent in the results. The songs have a familiar post-punk revival feel -- a dark, foreboding sound and lots of slight dynamic shifts. But those shifts actually sound dynamic, which can make all the difference in the world. Singer Zach Van Hoozer has a voice that's halfway between Interpol's Paul Banks and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's Alec Ounsworth, thankfully taking the least annoying traits from both singers. The band is at its best when it sounds the least agitated. Songs like "Wasted," which almost swings, and the percussive "Dancing + Drinking" help Zulu Pearls break from the mold of similar sounding bands.
-WashingtonPost.com
As a mixing engineer, my job is to vivify the intent of the artists who hire me. Mixing is as much an interpretive art as it is a technical science. In sorting through the raw tracks of what would become the first Zulu Pearls record, I was struck by the high drama in Zach's songs. Each song was a storm; in some respects recalling The Smiths' Strangeways Here We Come. The music seemed almost "windswept" and the lyrics seemed to be portrayals of lust, treason and things going wrong. Lovers twisting in sweat-soaked sheets, lovers climbing out of windows, lovers scurrying down fire escapes.
At the core of it all was Zach's young, vibrato-laced tenor, sinister melodic sense, and mischievous sense of humor.
-Chad Clark, Silver Sonya, Washington, DC
Wistful lyrics weep about the tortured melancholy of life but despite the seemingly downer of subject matter, Zulu Pearls does his Morrissey impression with gusto, earnest, and with an uptempo vibrant delivery. His music borders on power pop and alternative pop with strong vocals accompanying each tune. Smart rock music for the disengaged.
-Smother Magazine