Kate Pierson by Jose Jasso
When the B-52s crash-landed onto the music scene in 1979, they were anything but mainstream. Singer-keyboardist Cindy Wilson and fellow vocalist Kate Pierson sported mile-high beehives and wailing harmonies. Frontman-hype man Fred Schneider delivered spoken-word verses about partying sea creatures and outer space. Cindy’s older brother, guitarist Ricky Wilson, combined surf twang and a songwriting sensibility that was equal parts Hanna-Barbera and rock ’n’ roll.
The wavy charm of songs like “Rock Lobster” and, a decade later, “Love Shack,” garnered a massive fan base that welcomed the weird, making the B-52s pop-rock superstars. Pierson also branched out, duetting with Iggy Pop on “Candy” and with R.E.M. on “Me in Honey” and “Shiny Happy People.” Now 76, she’s touring in support of her second solo album, 2024’s Radios & Rainbows, sounding as fresh and mellifluous as ever.
They say good things take time, and Pierson has taken hers with solo work. (Her debut, Guitars and Microphones, only came out in 2015.) The result here is a big ball of serious fun. The cover art features a red-tressed Pierson sprawled out on grass, a butterfly ring glinting on a yellow-gloved hand that holds a retro-looking portable radio, Pierson’s abundant locks forming a wreath that’s as vibrant as the album’s music. This is a highly danceable record that reflects on Pierson’s extraordinary life and surveys the tech-powered 21st Century with a mix of wariness and hope.
Her soaring voice is cloaked in audio effects on the opening bars of the title track, and then it breaks through with a sailing melody and a lyric that is both exuberant and cautionary: “Do you know which way the wind blows?/How do we tell the truth from the lies?/Radios and rainbows/The eagle flies.”
Pierson co-wrote eleven of the 12 tracks, reuniting for one, “Every Day is Halloween,” with her principal Guitars and Microphones collaborator, the Australian pop sorceress Sia. Although their new duet, “Every Day is Halloween,” is a song about masking your inner self, Pierson is certainly not afraid to keep letting her freak flag fly.
Kate Pierson plays 7:30pm Friday, February 28 at The Parker in Fort Lauderdale. katepierson.com ~ Olivia Feldman
