Purity Ring

Shrines (4AD)

Like many electronic pop contemporaries, Purity Ring made its rounds on the Internet first. Canadian duo Megan James and production guru Corin Roddick took their time capitalizing on the hype, which now makes debut LP Shrines all the sweeter as it pulls through ghostly head-trips of throbbing bass. Single “Obedear” has an apocalyptic menace reminiscent of electro-pop princess Grimes, only Megan James manages something the former hasn’t yet mastered: making her chipper soprano seductive (“Lofticries”). With endless synth blasts against a pared down dub, Roddick takes hip-hop and R&B influences to the next level, inflating and deflating hooks flawlessly throughout the album. The refrain in “Fineshrine” (“Get a little closer, let it fold/Cut open my sternum and pull/My little ribs around you”) sums up Purity Ring with creepy efficacy, consuming and surrounding the listener. And as sweetly chirped by Megan James, it never seems like a bad thing.

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This article appears in September 14 • 2012.

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