Shrines

Purity Ring | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 24, 2012)
• Original Release Date: 2012
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: 4ad Records
• ASIN: B0082CIVVI
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,118 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Crawlersout

2. Fineshrine

3. Ungirthed

4. Amenamy

5. Grandloves

6. Cartographist

7. Belispeak

8. Saltkin

9. Obedear

10. Lofticries

11. Shuck

Editorial Reviews

Shrines is the debut album by Purity Ring, a Halifax/Montreal-based duo comprised of Corin Roddick and Megan James. Purity Ring make lullabies for the club, drawing equally from airy 90's R&B, lush dream pop, and the powerful, bone-rattling immediacy of modern hip hop. Megan's remarkable voice is at once ecstatic and ethereal, soaring joyfully through Corin's carefully chopped beats, trembling synths, and skewed vocal samples.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Consistency August 15, 2012

By Jason Harrington

Format:MP3 Music

Not sure why my first review never got published...anyway, moving on...

If this album was released a few decades back, it would have been labeled "trip hop" and asked to open for Sneaker Pimps, Portishead, or Tricky. Although they would still make a great touring mate or featured vocal guest for those acts, so much has happened in music since then for Purity Ring to get inspired by, and yet their music harkens back to the creepy side of female new wave as well.

However, this is not an album designed to show range; Rather it's one built on a singular vision. It's not like Team Sleep either, where it's consistency is drawn from circling (or impersonating) a vague sub-genre. By comparison, Purity Ring make Team Sleep look like they are fishing for distinction. This is pure modern synth pop, but not the kind that is chasing behind a bandwagon.

The beats are a consistent blend of skittering trap music snares, wafting "witch house" atmospheres, and percussive bell tones that are distinct to this band (thanks to a custom MIDI sound/light controller they designed). Despite these comparisons, in no way do they bow to these trends, but at most maybe tip their hat to them.

The vocals have a ghost-like quality sort of like Grimes in that there is something cute (Pretty Girls Make Graves?) and angelic about them, but at the same time creepy and ghost-like (Portishead). This ghostly effect is really enhanced by the reoccurring anatomy theme in the lyrics. It's not just anatomy in a passive sense either, but each song seems to choose one body part (ribs, stomach, etc) and describe it in a manner as if it had a life of it's own and was advancing on the listener/antagonist or otherwise behaving unnaturally.... Despite the fact that they seem to show even less range than Grimes, the voice and the drums take similar style hallmarks in a deeper, richer, and more engrossing direction. Grimes and Purity Ring both use vocal effects, but Grimes seems to rely mainly on reverb variations, natural voice modifications, and resampling, while Purity Ring is more into glitching, stuttering and placing the vocals upfront. The reverb soaking is more reserved for the melodic parts of the beats.

Grimes is more well known, so many people may find her first, then branch out to Purity Ring, but if you are ready to take this female fronted modern drum machine music to the next intensity level, try Light Asylum...they add a sharp dose of Annie Lennox and Grace Jones influence to this equation. Read more ›

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Magic July 25, 2012

By Taylor C. White

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

Very airy, soothing, and sometimes slightly disturbing synth pop... It's extremely refreshing and new-feeling music. Unique lyrics backed by a hip-hop beat. Purity Ring was magic at first listen. Given their unique, future-pop style, I think it safe to say that they're not for everyone. But I beg you - give a few of their songs a listen, you may be very pleased that you chose to. My suggestions: Ungirthed, Crawlersout, Lofticries.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Could be so much better September 25, 2012

By J. Chaisson

Format:MP3 Music

I really wanted to like this album...the trip-hop atmosphere and the quirky lyrics are all great, and musically I think they're great. But I physically cannot listen to the entire album--the dubstep trickery of that reverse fade (the bWAH-bw-bWAH-bw-bw-bWAH bass lines you hear--well, you know what I mean) is so prevalent and up front in every single song that it bothers my ears. It's not often that music can do that to me, and I'm not saying the album's crap...which it's definitely not. It's just that they used the reverse fade SO MUCH in this album that it physically bothers me.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I've been listening to this over and over and over.... August 2, 2012

By C. Sheaff

Format:MP3 Music

I just wanted to express my enthusiasm for this record. I was instantly hooked and cannot stop listening to it. Go for it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars I like it! September 6, 2012

By Niall

Format:MP3 Music

I am about as qualified to critique electronic music--or whatever this is called--as I am to perform dentistry. My favorite genre is Americana and my idea of electronic music is Goldfrapp. I discovered this band through Facebook and was immediately captivated by the accessibility of their music. It seems to conjure up--and update--the best of the Erasure/DepecheMode/etc synthesizer bands into something new. All of the older, individually-released songs here are great and the new stuff is certainly up to par. Listening from start to finish can produce a sense of tedium, but all of these songs sound great on their own. As good as this release is, I was blown away by their live performance, which prompted me to write this review.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully eerie, or Eerily beautiful... either way it is great. September 12, 2012

By eyeonmalta

Format:MP3 Music|Amazon Verified Purchase

Ever since the debut song "Ungirthed" came out I knew the full length would be good, but I had no idea how diverse and great this album is. The instrumentals from Corin Roddick, a member of the band Born Gold, pairs nicely, almost juxaposed to Megan James' vocals, which are as macabre as they are comforting.

I'll keep it simple, If you like the sounds of Crystal Castles, Flying Lotus, Grimes, The Weeknd, Joy Division, The Cure, James Blake, Fever Ray (the list can go on, but you probably get the idea) then buy this album immediately. while you are at it check out 4AD records, as they have one of, if not THE best new artsist line-ups.

"Shrines" or Grime's "Visions" is the best album of 2012.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars amazing September 6, 2012

By X

Format:MP3 Music|Amazon Verified Purchase

This duo is absolutely fantastic. The lyrics are great and the beats that accompany them are just amazing. Turn up the bass!

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars DEAR MUSIC APPRECIATORS July 26, 2012

By Andrew H. Lee

Format:Audio CD

Dear Music Appreciators,

What strange brew is this? It fills me with a mixture of metaphors, and if you've ever plugged and unplugged your ears while listening to something (anything) then you've already got a feel for the kind of pulsing hypnosis present on nearly every track of this debut album by Canadian future pop duo Purity Ring.

And with this whole affair sounding something like "teenage witch and her ancient demon lover's book of spells and dreams," is "Future Pop" an accurate term for the creepycute compositions roiling off this record? Maybe so, in the sense that what's old is new and what's new is old and time may have no meaning after all. Deep thoughts.

This feels a little like an electro-pop "Night On Bald Mountain" for twenty-first century journal-junkie teenage girls. These guys are based in Montreal? Of course they are - Purity Ring's music would play well with the astonishing acrobatics of Cirque Du Soleil - wonderfully weird music for a wonderfully weird circus show - the singer would astonish with lyrics like "cut open my sternum and poke my little ribs around you" while international acrobats would astonish by spinning like tops on each other's pinky fingers...or something like that.

In the lyrics to "Saltkin" Megan James intones "there's a cult, a cult inside of me" but with the kind of hauntingly charming "future pop" songs found on SHRINES, Purity Ring may also have a cult on the outside to deal with before they know it.

Sincerely,

Constant Listener