The success of Purity Ring's debut set the group up for big things. Their work with hip-hop artists like Danny Brown and Ab-Soul suggested that Corin Roddick and singer Megan James' follow-up would take a more beat-oriented approach, but Another Eternity bucks those expectations, doubling down on the sound that netted them a slot on the 2013 Polaris Music Prize short list.
Roddick and James don't rest on their laurels, though. After creating Shrines across a geographic void, the duo actually sat in a room together to compose this opus, the back and forth between the two yielding a more clear-eyed sound and vision. This is the group's singer-songwriter album (as much as an electronic duo can make a singer-songwriter record), personal but rooted in traditional song structures that build to big, distinct choruses. Where Shrines was an album built on rounded edges, Another Eternity is all right angles.
As its title suggests, renewal is the pervasive theme. Over Roddick's beats and slabs of synths, James excises the demons left by romantic heartbreak. Pronouns are her weapon of choice, but whether it's I, you, we or me, she constantly returns to the idea that this too shall pass.
Strangely familiar, yet still a major leap forward, there's a nice pop sheen that sells the record without losing the idiosyncratic production that drew listeners to the duo in the first place. Another Eternity marks Purity Ring as not just purveyors of a unique sound, but talented songwriters, too.
(Last Gang)Roddick and James don't rest on their laurels, though. After creating Shrines across a geographic void, the duo actually sat in a room together to compose this opus, the back and forth between the two yielding a more clear-eyed sound and vision. This is the group's singer-songwriter album (as much as an electronic duo can make a singer-songwriter record), personal but rooted in traditional song structures that build to big, distinct choruses. Where Shrines was an album built on rounded edges, Another Eternity is all right angles.
As its title suggests, renewal is the pervasive theme. Over Roddick's beats and slabs of synths, James excises the demons left by romantic heartbreak. Pronouns are her weapon of choice, but whether it's I, you, we or me, she constantly returns to the idea that this too shall pass.
Strangely familiar, yet still a major leap forward, there's a nice pop sheen that sells the record without losing the idiosyncratic production that drew listeners to the duo in the first place. Another Eternity marks Purity Ring as not just purveyors of a unique sound, but talented songwriters, too.