Courtesy of Purity Ring
Audio By Carbonatix
On a Monday in late September, the two members of the electropop band Purity Ring pulled themselves away from their North American tour prep to talk about how to build a world. Their new, self-titled album is a soundtrack to an imaginary role-playing game (RPG for short), so world-building has been top of mind for quite some time. When you’re in the middle of an album like that — or any album, for that matter — it’s easy to hyper-fixate on a certain sound or a specific lyric, they say.
But Corin Roddick and Megan James, the producer and singer behind the music, don’t want to lose sight of the bigger picture.
“This record is a world in and of itself, but it’s also about a world that I think is possible to build within this one,” James says. “There’s a collective grief I feel like everyone has encountered, but also hope for what people are capable of doing together.”
Roddick, who creates the band’s ethereal loops and sounds, saw his job on this record as navigating an “in-between space” between joy and sorrow.
“It’s that space where you’re not sure if you should feel uplifted or forlorn,” he says. “You feel in this sort of in-between state. But I think hope and grief are within that.”
It’s a tone that fans of Purity Ring — and RPGs — will recognize instantly. Since their 2012 debut, Shrines, the Canadian duo has been known for their ability to wrap dark, often difficult emotions in bright synths and sparkling percussion. This time, though, they’ve leaned harder into emotional nuance and the immersive power of the live show. (As if the latter wasn’t already maxed out.)
The band has always been known for its intricately designed, light-intensive shows, and its Nov. 7 show at the Granada Theater will likely be no different.
In fact, Roddick and James insist to the Observer that their Dallas concert will be different from anything even their most ardent fans will recognize.
“We’re building a completely new setup and visual presentation pretty much every tour,” Roddick says. “We kind of start from scratch… and end up doing most of the detail stuff ourselves.”
Good luck getting them to talk about those details, though. Rather than divulge any specifics, Roddick and James focus, again, on that bigger picture.
“The stage design that we’ve been working on is, to my knowledge, something that has never been seen before on stage,” Roddick says. “It’ll be a combination of confusion and excitement and a bit of, ‘How does that work?’”
What they do share is that the show contains plenty of pulsing lights and LED experimentation. Early reviews of some of their new shows thus far mention spinning projections and a series of light strips that sketch the band’s movement in vibrant colors. In other words, it sounds like the latest evolution of a band that’s always been interested in using light and color to tell their story.
“Sometimes when we’re writing a song, there is a visual element to it,” James says. “Maybe I’ll get an idea for the way a light is represented in a song or what kind of environment it’s situated in.”
Still, they’re careful not to let that influence limit them.
“I never want to not do something because it’s going to be hard [to play] live,” Roddick says. “If it’s going to be hard live, we’ll either just not do it live or figure out a different way to do it, like a new interpretation.”
The band’s new album is a product of that freedom, as well as years of collaboration and mutual trust. They’ve worked together for more than 15 years, and that long-standing creative bond has shaped everything from their recording process to their sense of what the band means.
“This record just felt like both of us were comfortable with ourselves and with each other and able to make what we wanted,” James says. “Regardless of nostalgia.”
Nostalgia is something the band has been hearing a lot lately. In Paste’s review of the new album, the writer notes that “their signature sound, anchored in early 2010s aesthetics, still feels like a comforting echo of another time.” But for Purity Ring, nostalgia isn’t the engine behind their creative process.
“Nostalgia is always a part of making music, because you’re pulling from the musicality of yourself, and in a sense, that could be nostalgia,” James says. “But yeah, I wouldn’t say that was part of our writing process. I think that’s more how we’re perceived.”
Roddick agrees, though he sees value in the feeling nostalgia can evoke. Especially in the context of music.
“I’m always nostalgic for the way music made me feel,” he says. “Like putting on a CD for the first time when I was 15, and then it just hitting you like a wall, and you’re like, ‘Oh my god, I thought I knew music, but I feel changed after listening to that.’”
That feeling — music as transformation, as a passage into another emotional realm — is at the heart of the band’s latest album and tour. And while grief certainly shadows some of the tracks, the band wants you to ultimately feel a sense of hope.
It’s hard, they know. But it’s also essential. Like an epic, emotional RPG soundtrack that ends on a hopeful note, Purity Ring wants to leave you feeling like there’s light at the end of the tunnel.
“I personally have a lot of hope for what people are capable of doing together and becoming together,” James says. “I haven’t lost that. I don’t want to lose that.”
Purity Ring with yuniVERSE will perform on Friday, Nov. 7, at 8 p.m. at Granada Theater, 3524 Greenville Ave. Tickets are available starting at $54.08 on Prekindle.
