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Music

The Austin 100: Pearla

By Stephen Thompson
Published March 17, 2020 at 4:01 AM CDT
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Pearla.
Shervin Lainez

Hometown: Brooklyn, New York

Genre: Folk-Pop

Why We're Excited: Singer-songwriter Nicole Rodriguez, who records under the name Pearla, finds subtle ways to put a twist on gently drifting, introverted, low-key folk-pop ballads. On her first EP, 2019's Quilting & Other Activities, Pearla gives her soft ruminations a sense of sonic adventure and psychedelic swirl, even as her lyrics look inward and stare down her demons.

Listen to Pearla's "Forgive Yourself"

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Stephen Thompson
Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)