Issue date: 2/15/08 Section: Music

Why does Jemina Pearl seem so much younger than her 20 years? It all comes back to that giggle.

Sure, you could argue it has something to do with her habit of throwing "likes" and "ums" into every sentence she speaks. Maybe it's a product of her decidedly teenage song lyrics. But it's mostly the laugh. No matter how serious the preceding answer was, she will almost invariably let out a little chuckle. It rarely has anything to do with what is being said. It's just a teenage tic.

It is appropriate, then, that Be Your Own Pet's sophomore album is called "Get Awkward." It is filled with the same kind of spiky punk that set their self-titled debut apart from other rock records. Jonas Stein (guitar), John Eatherly (drums) and Nathan Vasquez (bass) set Pearl's vocals against loud hooks that are more accessible than those on the first album. Pearl says that this change was mostly unplanned.

"It just kind of came out that way," she said. "I think maybe we were just trying to have fun and write a little bit more poppy songs, but I think it wasn't really that intentional."

This might be because the group can finally slow down and have fun. The first few years of the band's existence were extremely chaotic. After signing to Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label, they lost their former drummer to college and fired their manager due to internal disagreements. But in a way, Pearl sees this turmoil as positive.

"Now that we've gone through all these tumultuous times, it's like we're all a lot more levelheaded," Pearl said. "I think we're better because of it and we know more of what we want. It kind of forced us to grow up and figure out what we're doing, and that's not necessarily a bad thing at all."

Out of this came their self-titled debut in 2006. A critical success, the album burned through 15 tracks in just over 30 minutes. "Get Awkward" is a similar length, but its more considered feel gives it a much grounded sound. Pearl attributes this to a changes in the songwriting process.

"We had so much time to write these songs and really work them out and flesh them out a whole lot more than our first album," she said. "We were definitely in the mindset of 'we're writing songs for the album,' which is really different from when we were writing songs for fun at first. Once we got in the studio, we had a much better idea of what we wanted and what the process was going to be like than the first time, so we went in there kinda really ready to work and do the best we could, as well as try to grow up a little, without consciously thinking it."

Ironically, even with this more mature musical feel, the album's lyrics are, if anything, more youthful than they had previously been. Unlike the debut, Pearl wrote the lyrics on "Get Awkward." Her compositions are packed with songs about schoolyard brawls, dumb boyfriends and food fights.

"I try to play up my bratty side, and I do have a slight obsession with teenage ideas," Pearl said. "I think it's really fun. It's part of what punk rock is about. Well, I guess I do play it up a little bit more in my lyrics, but I try to be honest in the things I'm writing about. I wouldn't say that it's a character, more an exaggerated persona of myself."

Pearl played up her personality too much for Universal suits on three removed "Get Awkward" tracks. They were rejected by Universal lawyers for being "too violent." Pearl sighed when recounting this circumstance.

"When I found out that the songs were going to get taken off, I was just like, 'Is there anybody I can talk to?' " Pearl said. "It's like, I don't even really know who these people are. There's no one you can talk to to try to argue your case. Other than that, Universal has been great. But I guess that's just what happens when you decide to have something to do with a major label. They're going to be scared of anything that's not completely cookie cutter."

Pearl paused to take a breath. "I also feel like it's a good thing to have an outlet," she continued. "Like, maybe I would be a very violent person if I didn't have the chance to sing about what I want to sing about and express things I want and it's definitely helped me from being a destructive person in my life. And I think tons of people relate to that, so it's kind of frustrating that they want to censor me or whatever."

Wait, is the record industry forcing Jemina Pearl to grow up? Nah. Less than a second later, Pearl's now-familiar giggle erases any hint of jaded discontent. As much as she talks about serious topics, that laugh will always give her up. Jemina Pearl is young. But don't you have to be to write great punk songs?


Alex Dorf is music editor. E-mail him at adorf@nyunews.com.

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