PEARL AND THE OYSTERS (London Lexington, 04/06/25)

This French synth-pop duo living in Los Angeles makes music that sounds like 'Quiet Storm'-era Smokey Robinson, Broadcast, Sega city-pop soundtracks and the library music that used to play over Ceefax if you watched BBC2 at 4am circa 1994, and happily I'm a sucker for that sort of vibe. Missed their last London date due to train chaos, but this more than made up for it - Juliette and Joachim know a jazzy groove when they hear one, and as the guy behind me quipped, their rhythm section was "liquid football."