hometown: Northport, NY (Richard) / Ketchikan, AK (Pearl)
current town: Brooklyn, NY (Richard) / Evanston, Wyoming (Pearl)
music icon: Barney (Richard) / Belle the Disney Princess (Pearl)
favorite food: Salmon Sashimi (Richard) / Chili (Pearl)
fun fact/secret: I love salmon (Richard) / I have six toes (Pearl)
bio: “How do we do what we just did but better?”

A simple question animates Upper Mezzanine, the second project from Brooklyn art rock duo Sex Week. The band’s self-titled debut EP landed in late 2024, and as far as introductions go, set quite the bar. With the playful slowcore of “Toad Mode” and the midnight pop of “Angel Blessings” the band seemed to solidify their spot in the exciting underground of hotly-tipped NYC acts overnight. Press at FADER & Rolling Stone. Playlist covers at Spotify. Airplay on KEXP & KCRW. Global touring on the books.

That. But better?

“The approach for Upper Mezzanine felt more inquisitive,” says co-vocalist Pearl Amanda Dickson, a relative newcomer to the songwriting world. Sex Week started in 2022 when her now-partner Richard Orofino – a prolific musician & producer since he was in grade school – fell in love with her taste via a wildly eclectic playlist she made for his roommate.

Part of the band’s charm lies in how they pair rough edges with a surprising playfulness, finding a hopeful glow in the gloom and vice versa on nearly every song. “The balance is necessary” says Orofino, “which makes it both conscious and unconscious. We are aware of it as it’s happening but it happens every time.”

It’s the specificity and vision, gut and intuition that makes Sex Week, and by extension their brave second EP, so special. Orofino harnesses his unique abilities to make the alien feel universal. “I felt it stretched me out wide creating these songs with Pearl and it just made me feel excited and hopeful that things can be weird and also totally accessible if you allow yourself to just be open.”

And with that openness, the band was able to unlock exactly how to do what they’d just done. But better.