2008 Woodie Awards
Florida's Fresh Squeezed Sound Presents: Pemberley
Nicole Shaffer
Issue date: 9/11/06 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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They're polite, classy, and confidently poised, but when talking with both of Pemberley's lead females, Rachel-Margaret and Rachel-Lyn, it's hard to imagine that such calmly composed, ladylike musicians, wearing conservative knee length dresses and heels, moved from Maryland to Florida on a musical whim after knowing each other for only three months.
"We met through a client of mine," says Lyn. "My parents weren't happy."
Lyn has strawberry, pixie-cut hair, and seems the more free-spirited of the two, but it was Margaret's 8-year friendship with Copeland front man Aaron Marsh that took the singing, guitar-playing pair from North to South.
"I showed Aaron a demo of songs I had written on my digital recorder," says Margaret. "He liked what he heard, and I decided to come down to Lakeland to record with him."
Once in Florida, Margaret, who also plays violin for the band, and Lyn picked up Joey (guitar/piano), Tosh (bass), and Reid (drums), and after a brief two months of playing shows they released Pemberley: The EP in March of 2006.
"It happened organically," says Margaret of the band's quick progression.
And yes, the band name was adopted from the Jane Austin novel Pride and Prejudice.
"I just thought it was original. The name fit with the whole feel of the music," says Margaret.
Pemberley's sound is smothered somewhere in between a Cardigans and Sixpence None The Richer sandwich. In other words, if short-lived summer romance had a soundtrack, Pemberley would be featured on it.
Songs like Sweet, Sweet Love, with its Charlie Brownish piano intro, and Elegy, are romantic and playful in their melodies and lyrics. But there's some bitter in their sounds of sweetness, like the track A Fish Out of the Sea, where Margaret sings in pained disbelief "I don't wanna let you go/I just wanna let you know/what you mean to me."
Gunsmoke is a jazzier, slinkier tune with a childlike taunting throughout the chorus, calling out "I dare you" over and over. And, again, if this song were on the soundtrack to your short-lived summer romance, it would play during the scene where you sneak out with your crush to go skinny-dipping in the community pool.
Although new to the music scene, they're clearly on the road to bigger tracks, bigger venues, and a bigger fan-base, which they've slowly been collecting during their last few months here in Florida. Proof of their future bigness exists with the recent selection of Pemberley to play as part of the Atlantis Music Festival in Atlanta this October. Atlantis, a showcase designed to give deserving unsigned artists some face time in the industry, helped push John Mayer, Lost Prophets, and Maroon 5 into the faces, later launching their careers.
No doubt, this is a band you'll want to keep your eye on so in a few years you'll be able to brag I knew them when... There's a full-length album in the works and Margaret promises they'll be back to play Orlando soon, but for more news, music, and updated show info, check out myspace.com/pemberley.
"We met through a client of mine," says Lyn. "My parents weren't happy."
Lyn has strawberry, pixie-cut hair, and seems the more free-spirited of the two, but it was Margaret's 8-year friendship with Copeland front man Aaron Marsh that took the singing, guitar-playing pair from North to South.
"I showed Aaron a demo of songs I had written on my digital recorder," says Margaret. "He liked what he heard, and I decided to come down to Lakeland to record with him."
Once in Florida, Margaret, who also plays violin for the band, and Lyn picked up Joey (guitar/piano), Tosh (bass), and Reid (drums), and after a brief two months of playing shows they released Pemberley: The EP in March of 2006.
"It happened organically," says Margaret of the band's quick progression.
And yes, the band name was adopted from the Jane Austin novel Pride and Prejudice.
"I just thought it was original. The name fit with the whole feel of the music," says Margaret.
Pemberley's sound is smothered somewhere in between a Cardigans and Sixpence None The Richer sandwich. In other words, if short-lived summer romance had a soundtrack, Pemberley would be featured on it.
Songs like Sweet, Sweet Love, with its Charlie Brownish piano intro, and Elegy, are romantic and playful in their melodies and lyrics. But there's some bitter in their sounds of sweetness, like the track A Fish Out of the Sea, where Margaret sings in pained disbelief "I don't wanna let you go/I just wanna let you know/what you mean to me."
Gunsmoke is a jazzier, slinkier tune with a childlike taunting throughout the chorus, calling out "I dare you" over and over. And, again, if this song were on the soundtrack to your short-lived summer romance, it would play during the scene where you sneak out with your crush to go skinny-dipping in the community pool.
Although new to the music scene, they're clearly on the road to bigger tracks, bigger venues, and a bigger fan-base, which they've slowly been collecting during their last few months here in Florida. Proof of their future bigness exists with the recent selection of Pemberley to play as part of the Atlantis Music Festival in Atlanta this October. Atlantis, a showcase designed to give deserving unsigned artists some face time in the industry, helped push John Mayer, Lost Prophets, and Maroon 5 into the faces, later launching their careers.
No doubt, this is a band you'll want to keep your eye on so in a few years you'll be able to brag I knew them when... There's a full-length album in the works and Margaret promises they'll be back to play Orlando soon, but for more news, music, and updated show info, check out myspace.com/pemberley.
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