Romantically intertwined artists Pearl Charles and Michael Rault share everything in their own way. Though unlike artist couples of the past, Charles and Rault's music is not conjoined into one project.
Rather, they are two solo artists who create modern versions of ‘70s sounds, side by side. They share their writing, recording, and production processes with each other and other musicians.
"We are very much two sides of the same coin," says Charles, sitting alongside Rault on Zoom. "There’s so many similarities in our history. We were on the same record labels in the same years, and released records at the exact same frequencies."
After coming across one another through mutual friends, Charles and Rault began communicating on Instagram back in May 2019. They started spending hours on the phone and FaceTime together every day and, that June, Rault flew to LA to meet Charles in person. The two have been together since, both personally and professionally.
Around this time both Rault and Charles were in the throes of bringing their most recent albums into fruition: Rault’s 2022 self-titled album and Charles’ 2021 LP, Magic Mirror. Although production had already commenced on both albums, each put their unique mark on the other’s album.
Charles, who is a very collaborative musician by nature, invited Rault to hang out in the studio when she was working, leading to him tracking piano and guitar on the record. Though Charles also plays guitar and keys, she influenced Rault — a self-described "auteur of sorts" — in ways that were more conceptual and energetic, in addition to providing backup vocals. Their partnership has "been a change in terms of my approach to music and life," Rault notes.
With both of their albums out in the world, the couple have spent time on fully collaborative projects like their joint single “Givin’ It Up” and their cover of The Band’s holiday single, “Christmas Must Be Tonight.”
However, their main focus recently has been Charles’ next full-length record, which she says is "70 percent done." That album was recorded live in studio with musicians including drummer Ryan Miller and bassist Dustin Bookatz, who will also join Charles and Rault on the road.
Charles and Rault’s first co-headlining North America tour begins this month in Denver, and throughout it they will share the stage, a band, and that communal creative experience with the audience.
As Charles sings backup for Rault, who will also play lead guitar for Charles, the audience will be seeing more than live music. They’ll be welcomed into the process of how these two solo artists bring music to life, together.
Charles and Rault spoke to GRAMMY.com about the ways their relationship affected each of their musical processes, and how those processes are coming together for their upcoming, co-headlining tour.
What is something each of you guys has learned from the other, musically?
Charles: Michael's taught me tons of stuff. Michael didn’t do much co-writing before we worked together; that was really my thing.
At this point, we’ve been working together so connectedly for so long it’s almost hard to think about where I end and you begin. We've both influenced each other by showing each other so much music.
Rault: I’ve said this many times, but Pearl is the one partner that I’ve had in my life who is considerably more knowledgeable than I am about music and records.
Most friendships, most romantic relationships, I’m oftentimes the one that’s sharing a bunch of things that I found and love in music, and Pearl has insane knowledge about that kind of stuff.
Charles: You did show me Allen Toussaint, and that’s a big one.
Rault: And I also showed you that Canadian power pop classic, Michel Pagliaro.
Charles: And you got me more into Steely Dan, which I did like before.
Rault: I think, from my perspective, that my influence on Pearl has been to push into a slightly more musically — maybe a more diverse musical approach to harmony and chords.
Both of us are rooted in folk music and both have a history of playing blues or roots or country initially in our lives, but in more recent years I have really gotten obsessed with the more jazz side of prog rock.
I just naturally got bored of writing chord changes I’d written a thousand times before and started to explore different harmonic elements. So, I brought a little bit of that to Pearl’s music. [I was] trying not to go too far into that to ruin her simple, naturally appealing thing by turning it into a progressive harmony problem.
Charles: That’s always a tug of war, too. Our producer, Lewis Pesacov, oftentimes is dialing it back because he’s like “OK it’s getting a little too crazy.”
Rault: In our listening, we definitely listen to more stuff in that vein than I think Pearl maybe did beforehand. She’s shown me a ton of stuff that I didn’t know before that totally changed my progression as a musician.
As she said, I think I definitely have been brought into a more community mindset with music. I used to be, for good and for bad, very isolated. It was a very solitary work experience for me earlier on playing music.
Between co-writing with her and opening me up to co-writing, which I’d only barely started doing with another friend right before I met Pearl. Then Pearl and I were doing tons of collaborative stuff and on top of it playing with the band.
It’s a family band. Not actually born with the same last name and stuff, but it’s a family of people.
Charles: Blood brothers
Rault: When I first met you… I thought [that] your collection of albums that are important [to] you was so amazing. There were times where I was like "how do we make stuff more like these records?"
Charles: Exactly, and that’s more like Michael’s specialty, which we’ve discussed many times. He’s more about the sonic quality than I am, and that’s why I’m not necessarily a producer. I have ideas for arrangements and parts but…there’s a special ear that is really focused on how can you make it sound more like the stuff you’re trying to make it sound like.
Rault: Production, arrangement, playing, approach. I’m not producing these records, but it’s not just mic placements and mixing techniques, or if it’s to tape or digital.
Charles: It’s conceptual.
Rault: It’s also the vibe of the song, the intentions of the songs. That’s my only mission is to try and keep it authentic to the stuff that you like to listen to.
Is Pearl’s upcoming album more collaborative because that’s more her style, or are both your songwriting styles coming together?
Rault: Magic Mirror has a very eclectic mix of co-writers on it, but at a certain point, [that's] just out of convenience. We've been on tour constantly, and then we come home and we're mostly at the house trying to recuperate. Sometimes that time is the best time to write, and partially just because of the necessity and convenience, I’ve been the most common co-writer on this record.
Charles: Yes you’re a very big collaborator on the next record and it's a very collaborative record. We did it with our whole band. We did it all to tape, live off the floor, with an additional percussionist. Lewis [Pesacov] is producing again, and we did it at a couple cool studios. It’s really a group effort. Which is really fun because Magic Mirror was the beginning of something like that, but this is much more fully realized in that direction of being a band.
Rault: And Dustin and Ryan, I would say, are guiding the creative direction more with their rhythm section contributions than the previous record. We’re becoming more and more of a band, but I would say it is a Pearl record. Pearl has an idea and then I maybe write a bridge or reharmonize something, but it's very rarely me trying to direct the overall project.
Charles: Well, I feel really lucky to be surrounded by people in the industry that support me. You guys are playing with me and helping me realize my vision.
I want everyone to put themselves into it, but in the way that they’re trying to foster the project being what they know I want it to be with their contributions. I think that that’s what makes our band dynamic so great. It is very egoless.
Did Magic Mirror and Michael Rault use the same band that is working on Pearl’s new record?
Rault: Because my record was being tracked mostly simultaneous to Magic Mirror I hadn’t really joined her band. Both of my Daptone records, It’s A New Day Tonight and the self-titled record have been an exploration in using session players. Going into a scene like the Daptone scene and using their players and seeing what I could get out of it. It’s another sort of old-school fantasy being lived out.
Charles: If the past is any indication of the future, who knows what will happen, but it’s possible his next record will be with the same band.
With the merging of your own musical styles and processes, and the band dynamic growing analogous across both projects, it feels like this co-headlining tour is a culmination of all this work. What’s the rundown on each show going to be like?
Rault: It would be cool actually if we did a duet or something to close. We don’t even really have a set idea of who’s going to be the first and who’s going to be second. Certainly I don’t think either of us cares who goes first or second.
Charles: Not me.
With that egoless attitude once again, I feel like these shows are going to be a far more welcoming and communal experience. You guys are presenting different sides of yourselves and your band members.
Rault: It does create an interesting vibe that’s different — compared to one of us touring with our band, and then either opening up [for] or being opened up by another band of people maybe we don’t know at all.
We’ve done one show as a co-headliner in a club. There could potentially be one opener for some of these shows. Three, maybe, who could keep it more fresh. That being said, the vibe of us and of our crew and of everything that we’ve been working on… is going to be the dominant vibe of the entire evening.
It is almost getting into The Last Waltz territory. Although not quite fully there, you’re going to come down and see a group of people do a lot of different things and show you a lot of different sides of their personalities and their playing. So, I feel like it is an interesting and somewhat intimate experience, I hope, for the people who come to see these shows.
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