“Can you forgive yourself for turning your back in fear? Do you understand your friends when they decide to stay at home?”
These are some of the questions Brooklyn singer-songwriter Pearla asks on her recent single, “Forgive Yourself,” a track filled with inquiries that are so disconcerting and difficult to answer that it’s hard to tell if they are experiments in self-examination or merely rhetorical. Regardless, there’s a remarkable amount of introspection evoked over the course of “Forgive Yourself’s” three sparse minutes, all building to an explosive end of featherweight vocal harmonies and thunderous electronic noise. Pearla’s sound is mellifluous and engrossing, but her music resonates so strongly from the sense of unease in what she asks of us as listeners – to take a good hard look at our lives, and ask for forgiveness. It’s a task easier sung than done.
Pearla will play Zone One at Elsewhere on November 28th, supporting Ritual Talk and Stello. Ahead of the show, stream her newest release Forgive Yourself, Pumpkin below. -Connor Beckett McInerney (@b_ck_tt) Photo by Josh Katz