The Pearl Harts at The Edge of The Wedge, Southsea: 'Left the crowd wanting more' | Review

Local artist Frankie Knight valiantly steps into the breach. Usually performing as a duo with a drummer, here Frankie is playing solo – just her and her keys.

Her atmospheric synth-pop may differ from what was expected, but it goes down well nonetheless. Check her out at this summer at The Bandstand and on the Beats & Swing stage at Victorious Festival.

The Pearl Harts are Kirsty Lowrey on vocals and guitar and Sara Leigh-Shaw on drums and backing vocals. The two-piece make a noise which belies their numbers – the sound is occasionally bolstered by the judicious use of loops, triggered bass lines and samples – but for most of the time it’s just the guitar and drums. And while they may be colour-coordinated in red, that’s about as far as comparisons with that other duo, The White Stripes goes.

They kick off with Baby Chaos, also the lead track on recently released second album Love, Chaos, which, with its jagged riff and intro ‘Hoo, ha!’ chant provides a rollicking start.

Love, Chaos demonstrates how the band have progressed since their debut Glitter and Spit back in 2018, adding studio flourishes and a slightly more layered sound. While it is in no way over-produced, its songs’ live counterparts lose some of that studio shine in favour of a bit more punk grit.

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The set draws fairly evenly from both albums with a smattering of other singles, including the fierce Pulling My Brains Out and righteous anger of Suck It Up.

Halfway through the set Lowrey admits that she's not been feeling great today, but the audience's response has lifted her.

They take their feet off the gas for recent single Wild Me, demonstrating that its not all heads-down, racing to the finish line.

While hardly lacking in energy so far, their final two tracks, both from their debut, take things up a further notch. Hit The Bottle rides a lightning-speed riff, complete with false finishes that transforms into the altogether grungier Bad Blood for a head-banging finish.

There’s no encore and it’s all done in a brisk 45 minutes that definitely fulfills the maxim: leave them wanting more. And the crowd clearly wanted much more.