The Corner Hotel did as much as they could to stop the sweat. Air-con, a few fans, the works. But the undeniable involvement from the sold out crowd throughout the pulsating set from Canada’s Purity Ring was too much to for the Corner’s amenities.
Unfortunately I missed first act, Fishing , devastated that I was unable to catch their glitch hop inspired euphoric tunes. ‘ White Sheet Beach ‘ was one of my favourite electronic tracks from 2012, winning me over with their distinctive use of xylophones and in depth layering, washing over hip hop inspired beats. I did however get to catch the whole of Headaches ‘ set.
Headaches was one act that I had never heard of before this gig, but as a support act he had the crowd heaving to his dance heavy electronica set. After seeing his engulfing live performance I decided to look the man up, however information is limited. His bandcamp boasts an array of different musical stylings from his I Wasn’t Born Yesterday EP , illustrating an electronic soundscape much to the same vain of I’lls or Rat & Co. , to his remix of Ciara ‘s ‘ Ride ‘ which boast an extensive layering of different drum beats and synths. Needless to say the Brooklyn based muso was captivating.
At ten past eleven the crowd was building in anticipation, chanting every time the house speakers died down to change track, only to be disappointed when it came back on with another song. Finally the room went black, arms were strewn up in the air only to exhibit the vast patches of under arm sweat that came with the dancing and sold out crowd. Some sweeping synths were looped as Corin lulled the crowd into a possessed sea of musical euphoria. Then came the drop, ‘ Crawlserout ‘. It was a smooth introduction into what would be a euphoric set of big synths sounds and body shaking drum beats.
From this first instant lead vocalist Megan had the crowd in the palm of her hand going from the menacing ‘ Belispeak ‘ to the “I feel in love again” vibes of ‘ Ungirthed ‘. Her voice was pitch perfect, and in combination with the live electronic reproduction of the different elements on the album, it sounded identical.
One of the most inviting aspects of this show, bar the music, was the impressive lighting show on display. With an electronic artist and a vocalist it is hard to rival a performance of a five piece band, so Purity Ring more than enhanced their live element. The stage was littered by large oval shaped lights, that were cued to the music, creating a captivating array of colours and arrangements that perfectly complimented the music. It wasn’t just your generic strobe and fog machine set up. It was meticulously planned, and it paid dividends. On top of this Corin was not only playing his beat pad, but an interactive drum pad set up. With lights that radiated different colours as he danced his drum sticks across them.
At this gig their wasn’t one instant were the crowd wasn’t entertained as they were well versed in every song off the Shrines record, singing loudly to the most haunting of their tracks, including ‘ Cartographist ‘. The dark wobble of the bass shaking through the crowd that had every patron paying full attention. From there they went to the next level playing ‘ Odebear ‘, their cover of Soulja Boy ‘s ‘ Grammy ‘, and then ‘ Ungirithed ‘ in quick succession.
Then came crowd favourite ‘ Fineshrine ‘. The crowd went ballistic, screaming out the lyrics; ‘Cut open my sternum and pull my little ribs around you’ that filled the room with a euphoric emotion that only such poetic lyric writing can evoke. Throughout the whole set the imagery of their lyrics were replicated by the whimsical props that they had on stage, only adding to the enchanted feeling that radiated off the Purity Ring fanatics facial expressions through each track. As we left the room to get some fresh air it was only then that we realised we were drenched in sweat, drowning from the precipitation cascading from our foreheads.
Purity Ring were captivating, inspiring and once again euphoric. It is the only way to describe it.
WORDS BY Huw Nolan
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