When you talk to Dexter Gilmore, known around the synth/vapor wave and dream gaze scene of New Orleans as PEARCE, you’ll learn that he had a kinda uniquely cool childhood. The multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, who moved to New Orleans to attend Loyola’s music business program, says it was his sister who initially led him down the musical path.
“My sister used to date this dude who’s a rapper, and he would take us to these rap battles in D.C.,” he said. “And at 8 years old, I would see all these people performing and battling against each other. It was so inspiring. It made me want to put my own verses to things. I also come from a musical family. My dad produced records and my older brother plays piano. I remember one Christmas, my dad bought him home studio equipment. So my brother started making his own music. He would invite his friends over to come sing and rap. I couldn’t help but join in on that fun, too.”
Pearce came to the Crescent City by chance, when a Loyola rep came to his school. He applied, fully expecting not to get in (thinking his GPA wasn’t high enough) and as luck would have it, he made the cut. His uncle took it upon himself to book flights to some of the cities for schools outside of D.C. where young Gilmore had been accepted and New Orleans was just one of them. They went to New Orleans during Jazz Fest and, as he tells it, “That was that.”
Not so long ago, Gilmore’s band Sexy Dex and the Fresh took off with a bang in the local music scene when Loyola-generated bands like Donovan Wolfington were making a splash in a city normally dominated by jazz and blues.
“It started with just me and the drummer Evan (Cvitanovic). I was making bedroom R&B at the time and he said to me one day ‘If you want to make a band out of this I’d be down to play’ so I took him up on that. We would practice to a backing track of the songs I wrote, all at The Maze in Central City. Forming the remaining parts became pretty seamless. Gabrielle (Washington, better known as Delores Galore) and I have been singing songs together for a long time so It just felt natural to have her sing in the band. Evan and I played in a band with Andrew (Landry) previously so that was an easy ask. I lived on the same floor with Ben (Buchbinder) our freshman year of college, so we already knew each other. I happened to see him play at a party I went to and asked him to be in the band after that.”
It wasn’t long before the band was playing alongside New Orleans powerhouses like Big Freedia. “I will say that one of the most fun gigs we played was at South Sounds Fest in Mobile, Alabama. We opened for Big Freedia that night. It was a packed audience and we put on a great show. Then Big Freedia came on and brought the freakin’ house down. She and her dancers all left the stage in mid-performance to get on the streets and twerk on everything in sight. They even stopped a trolley bus in the middle of the street, climbing up it and twerking on it. It was poetry.”
With his new project, Gilmore’s work captures that poetic sensibility and weaves in threads of nostalgia.
“The main difference between PEARCE and SDTF is just the fact that, SDTF is a pop band at the end of the day. No matter what we do, whether it’s influenced by disco, R&B, rock, synth or new wave, it all falls within the mask of pop. Whereas, PEARCE can kind of jump around a little bit more, which I like. The whole reason for my solo stuff is so that I can jump around and kind of do whatever I want and not feel like I’m gonna alienate people or confuse people by taking directions, you know, it’s totally me. It’s cathartic.”
When asked about his personal influences, Gilmore finds it hard to narrow down the list. “It’s really hard to narrow down what my influences are, because they constantly change. But some of my mainstays have been ’80s Minneapolis funk, R&B from the late ’70s and ’80s. And mostly female artists like The Pointer Sisters, Mary Jane Girls, Anita Baker, and Aaliyah. Shoegaze also holds a huge influence, especially when it comes to songwriting and the simplicity of it – groups like My Bloody Valentine, Boyz & Girl, The Telescopes, Tears Run Rings.”
It makes perfect sense that Gilmore is heavily influenced by female artists as his spouse is none other than New Orleans’ beloved Gabrielle Washington (Delores Galore). Together, they have made music with Sexy Dex & The Fresh and now collaborate on a weekly livestream highlighting and showcasing local talent called The Chamber.
“Gabrielle and I have collaborated on many projects for many, many years,” he says. “And that’s kind of like the name of the game for us. You know, that’s just what we do, and that’s true even with PEARCE. Gabrielle definitely plays a big part. Like while she isn’t, you know, directly in all of the music that I make with Pearce, she definitely has a hand in some of my imagery and just like certain ideas that I might put out, like the Faded video, for instance, Gabrielle had the idea for me having the repeated animation of the moving car. I just happened to put it together. We’re a team, and team is everything.”
The first time that I hear PEARCE’s latest music drop, Pulse Vision (both EP and video game download), is seemingly underwater at the Seacave on St. Claude, which seems so fitting. Over retro icy synths, PEARCE, with a swathe of aqua-tinged hair, sings his melodies into the mic over his piercing tracks as fans play Tony Hawk and Streetfighter on old video arcade machines. Streaming the album on Bandcamp, you can get the same experience in your bedroom. The opening track, “Faded,” immediately transports you to a sonic world not so long ago or maybe a world coming back. “Virtua Airport” has a thumping beat that calls to mind Republic—a the techno-pop punk-rock British outfit of the mid-90s. The songs are dripping with nostalgia.
“I do think nostalgia definitely gives us a sense of comfort,” he says. “Without sounding too morbid, I think it’s because we know the future is very bleak. And unfortunately, you know, I don’t think a lot of people have a positive outlook on what it’s going to be because we’re so educated now on what is actually really happening all over the world. You can’t really lie to people the way you used to be able to, and I think that makes people feel defeated. So, what does anyone do in a situation where they feel kind of defeated? You kind of become infantilized, you kind of crawl into the fetal position mentally. So I feel like nostalgia is like the societal representation of us going into fetal position. “
To stream and purchase PEARCE’s new album via Bandcamp, click here.
Follow the adventures of PEARCE and Delores Galore, as well as a roster of new New Orleans talent, via The Chamber, here.
