H.G. Watson
ARTS EDITOR


Purity Ring – Shrines (Last Gang Entertainment)





Purity Ring’s Shrines brings the listener to a slow, soft crescendo over 11 tracks.

The Montreal duo of Megan James and Corin Roddick clearly wanted to make things memorable for their debut album. For the most part, it does not disappoint. The sound is big yet restrained, the kind of songs that could be played easily in a festival or in your living room.

The tracks are reigned in and muted to start of the album (notwithstanding the second single “Fineshrine,” which is probably the song with the biggest pop sensibility). It’s a clever trick to lull us in with relaxed songs like “Grandlove” before unleashing the 1-2-3 punch of the album: “Odebear,” “Loftcries” and “Shuck.”

Of the three, “Loftcries” stands alone as the biggest departure from the rest of the album. It’s a haunting and sexy song that slowly pulses along– certainly this is a song that will inspire many a make out.

It’s not all perfect. On “Crawlersout” James’ vocals gets lost amongst synths, doing a disservice to the song. While it’s clear that Purity Ring are about merging sounds into something that is cohesive as one, it would still be nice to hear what James is singing about.

For a band often referred to as “chillwave,” you’ll likely be blown away by Shrines power.