Befitting a band who've mutated language to coin track-titles "Lofticries," "Belispeak," and, now, "Obedear," there's a slipperiness to the syllables sung by Megan James. Especially given the way her Purity Ring counterpart, Corin Roddick, treats every vocal as raw material, ready to be chopped, screwed, stretched, and caressed."Obedear" —another prized taste of Purity Ring's forthcoming Shrines LP, officially one of the year's most anticipated albums— features more perverted syllables and perverse sentiments from a singer who once sweetly asked her grandma to "drill little holes into my eyelids."
Over synths equal parts chintzy and dramatic, James chronicles a "ghastly predicament," and the song is full of physical signifiers —arms, hair, ankles bare— portraying the vulnerability of human flesh. "Gather up its harm and gauze with grateful arms," James sings, in what passes for a refrain, but the production slurs the words enough that she could be gathering up harm and Gods, which would make this something else entirely.
That mystery is something that's been present in all of Purity Ring's pitch-perfect pop-songs prior, and "Obedear" continues the run; of mysteriousness, of perfection, of brilliance. It's so good, yet again, that expectations for Shrines are so stratospheric it's hard to imagine the album actually meeting them. If it does, well, then it's going to be the album of the year.
Purity Ring, "Obedear"
No comments:
Post a Comment