Purity Ring’s Next Adventure (Interview)

Canadian electro-pop duo Purity Ring are about to release their second album, Another Eternity, this week. Hailing from Edmonton, Megan Jones (vocals) and Corin Riddick (instruments) began working together as Purity Ring in 2011 and were snapped up by 4AD records a year later. Their first album, 2012’s Shrines, produced five singles. Now, the twosome is ready to unleash their latest creation. The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda spoke to Corin Riddick about the making of Another Eternity and how how they plan to prepare for their next tour.

Click here to listen to the interview with Purity Ring:

Or, read a transcription of the interview here:

MD: Hello Corin, how you doing?

CR: I’m pretty good, how are you?

MD: Alrighty. Where abouts are you? Somewhere in Canada?

CR: I’m actually In Los Angles right now.

MD: Much warmer there I imagine.

CR: Yeah, it’s pretty beautiful right now, I’m just standing outside. We’re out here preparing for our tour just kind of getting the whole live set together.

MD: Tell me a little bit about that. How does that work?

CR: Well that’s what we’re kind of trying to figure out at the moment. One the last album we built this sort of visual show that incorporated instruments that we’d made ourselves that were like series of touch lamps and lanterns that we were able to trigger sounds from, synth sounds, and melodies as well as affect the vocals and sort of remix the songs in a live context. There is also a lot of cocoons, I guess you would call them, they were hanging over the top of us that were directly connected to the music as well. So they would light up and sort of pulse everything that we were doing and then they would follow the music and they would follow Megan’s vocals. So yeah that’s what we did last time and then this time we’re kind of stripping it down to nothing and starting again.

MD: I see.

CR: But basically we have I guess we have the same goals as last time which is just to create a very visually enticing show that is very connected to the music in all one system and is actually interesting and unique and things like that. So we’re trying to take the same context we achieved in the last, on our last album with the live show and grow them to new potential this time with new visual ideas and just more expansions.

MD: Right. I mean I guess it must be a different type of challenge to put a live show because there is just two of you, there’s no band, you’re not running around you know, leg kicking and throwing guitars around. So there has to be a way of approaching it I guess, right?

CR: Yeah approaching the live show is definitely a challenge because when we’re writing our music and producing it, we’re not thinking at all about the show, like we write it completely in our studio, kind of part by part.

MD: Yeah.

CR: We like to build up the song without any kind of limitation of like, wait but how would we do this live, you know.

MD: Yeah.

CR: So when we make the song and after they’re finished we kind of step back and then it’s like okay now we have to look at this and figure out how this could be played and maybe we have to change some things or really tear things apart a little bit but it’s kind of a completely backward way of coming at it than your traditional rock band would where it’s like you write the song by jamming with your friends and then you’re already ready to play.

MD: Right. Although I will say that I believe The Beatles had the same problem when they made Sgt. Pepper, they realised they couldn’t replicate it on stage so they just stopped touring.

CR: Exactly. So like we basically write the songs and then we have to teach them to ourselves in some form and that’s a challenge.

MD: Right.

CR: But it’s fun though. It’s a good challenge. It’s like a unique sort of way of coming at it and it’s cool to feel like we have new ideas about those types of things that we can kind of just start going in whatever direction we want to go because we don’t have like typical live band restrictions.

MD: Right. I get the feeling that it must be very technologically driven process as well. Are you kind of, is that something that you have a hands on function in or do you have other people around you who are really geeks and kind of on the cutting edge of what’s going on?

CR: Yeah you’re right, it is a very, at the core of the whole set up, is a very technologically based system and I’m definitely at the centre of that.

MD: Okay so you’re the geek.

CR: Yeah, yeah. I mean sometimes it’s difficult for sure cause’ it’s a lot of work but I know that’s something I’ve been doing for a while and I just kind of feel like I know how to do that kind of thing so why not.

MD: Right. Is it a different kind of process than making the music to go along with the vocals coming up with all this other stuff, you know, the visuals and all that?

CR: Yeah, totally. I mean like in terms of just the visual vibes and everything like the two of us really contribute to that. Like Megan has kind of a great eye and imagination for just interesting and intrigued visuals and so we worked together on that and then I have to kind of work a lot on the technology side of it to sort of connect it all and make that happen.

MD: Right. So how much time do you have between now and when you kinda hit the road and have to have this thing together?

CR: Well we haven’t actually announced the tour yet.

MD: Okay. So you got some time.

CR: Pretty much we’re trying to just, we got a lot to do, so…

MD: Right.

CR: We’re trying to get as much as we can right now. It’s a bit stressful just cause there’s so many things that are required in the lead up to an album such as the interviews.

MD: Yeah. I’m sorry to take up your time.

CR: No that’s okay. No, it’s all part of it.

MD: Holding up the creative process.

CR: We’re trying to balance all the kind of promotional things we need to do as well as kind of create this whole new thing that is separate from the album.

MD: Gotcha. How long ago, how much has it been since the album has been finished? Did you have a break of some sort, in kind of around New Year’s, Christmas and all that?

CR: Yeah we turned in the album, I think just right at the end of November. So we kind of had, maybe took a week off in December and then we also had a little bit of time off around Christmas but pretty much like we had to get right back into planning all the things that go with putting out an album. So it’s funny when you’re making an album you get this huge feeling, it’s like we’re finally completing this thing and like we’ll hand it in and then we’re good and we can relax. But it’s like actually creating the album like on your own time in your studio is the relaxing time.

MD: Right, right.

CR: And then it’s as soon as you finish that and hand it in then the shit kind of hits the fan.

MD: Gotcha.

CR: So yeah, it’s deceptive that way.

MD: Was it the same way when you released your first album Shrines 3 years ago?

CR: It was similar. I mean, we definitely have more people paying attention to us this time.

MD: Yeah.

CR: So there’s just kind of more to do I guess because everyone that we’re working with is trying to sort of accomplish things on a different scale.

MD: Yeah.

CR: So that’s obviously more work. But also when we were making Shrines, I think we took longer to make it because we were also playing a lot of shows and stuff, we were opening for other bands. We kind of made that record slowly all over the place, like over a year and a half. Whereas with this album we actually just completely stopped playing shows, like put the brakes on everything and just took a solid year on our own time to write it.

MD: Yeah. From what I understand, from what I’ve read already, this time around you and Megan kind of have sat in the same room and worked together which was a different process than last time, is that right?

CR: Yeah very much so. Last time we did, I guess a majority of the album remotely, just kind of contributing our own parts to it, whereas this time around we really worked together with every aspect of each song, kind of building it up together and making sure that the songs were kind of everything that they should be like part by part. So it was a much more focused process whereas last time it was a bit more stream of consciousness. We definitely got some interesting results I think last time doing it the way we did but I think it was a good thing to come at this record with a different approach because it just naturally sort of changed the way the song sounded. It was a bit of a natural revolution, instead of kind of working the same way and trying to force change, you know. So it was definitely like a very different process when we started working together because we had never really worked together like that before so we kind of had to learn how to actually collaborate.

MD: Right.

CR: Yeah, but it was cool because that really directly influenced like how things ended up sounding and it didn’t feel forced, like things just turned out the way they did and we’re really happy with how it went.

MD: And did you find out things about each other that you didn’t know because you were kind of working in this way which you hadn’t done before?

CR: I mean in some ways probably yeah, we spent a lot more time together, yeah. So we just kind of like definitely became more used to each other. Now we understand each other’s processes more and everything, whereas before we were more separate entities just kind of bringing our own thing to the table.

MD: Gotcha, and as a listener what will people hear, will people hear a difference in your music because of the way this process has worked do you think when they hear the new album?

CR: I think people who are familiar with our old work will definitely recognize an evolution with the new album. I think they’ll still be able to recognize that it sounds like us. Like I don’t think we really completely shed our identity or anything but the songs are, this time around are just generally more focused on the structure as a whole because  as we were taking our time to write the songs like part by part we were really able to hone in on the parts of the songs that really stood out or really important aspects and figure out how to bring those forth to be more of a focal point and also just constructing the songs to really flow from place to place like really fluidly. It’s a bit more concise as well like the songs, I guess are a bit shorter and just a bit more, I guess concise in the word. It’s like we didn’t really…there is not as much wandering. We kind of get to the point quicker this time, you know.

MD: Gotcha. Hey I see you just released Begin Again is the latest single off of the album and I have heard the whole album just only briefly. I heard it once through this morning before I got the chance to talk to you.

Listen to Begin Again here:

CR: Oh cool. Thanks for taking the time to look into it.

MD: Oh my pleasure, believe me. So maybe perhaps you can use Begin Again as an example of how people can hear that process being evident in a particular track.

CR: Yeah, I think Begin Again is…I sort of think of that song as like an evolution of what a song like Obedear was on our old record. Like it has a similar sort of vibe I guess, just in its murkiness but it has a much more focused chorus and it’s a lot more dynamic like it has a sort of bigger more triumphant section, I guess. But at the core it still has like what I’d like to think is that Purity Ring sound.

MD: Right. I think what, after hearing it just the once through, one other track that stood out for me was one near the end called Sea Castle, especially the lyrics and what was happening. When you hear her lyrics, and I assume that she is responsible for the lyrics and you for the music,  what goes on in your head when you hear things like “my dreams I speak them and look at me I’m the sea” that kind of thing?

CR: I honestly just appreciate her lyrics, like I think I can, some of her lyrics have more of an effect on me than others when we’re writing and then if there’s parts that really stand out to me I’ll like let her know, but lyrics are really her realm like I’m not much of a lyricist or a poet.

MD: Right.

CR: But, I think it’s important though, how lyrics affect people that don’t really necessarily work in that realm you know. Like myself for example I’m not really a lyrics guy at all, I don’t even really, I couldn’t really tell you the lyrics for most of my favourite songs.

MD: Right.

CR: But once in a while lyrics will stand out to be and then when they do I know that that’s like really important. So there were definitely like moments this time around where there’s like lyrics that really stand out to me. That’s like one of the things that we kind of worked on to focus more it’s just like finding those really exciting parts and like bringing those forth. Megan’s just kind of like, she has a crazy lyrical content well inside of her just like stuff just spews. The inspiration just like comes over her so naturally. I feel like I have to work really hard and kind of pull, painstakingly pull music ideas out of my head when I’m trying to make something but I feel like for her, like whenever we start working on things, lyrics just seem to come to her so naturally. It’s inspiring for me to see something so natural.

MD: Yeah. Speaking of the music, I mean, it’s a relatively new phenomenon that the type of pop music that you’re making, which Is pretty much completely electronically driven and doesn’t have a lot of traditional instruments involved in it, and it’s kind of brooding. I use the word brooding, are you familiar with the group Broods, the duo?

CR: I’ve heard of them but I don’t really know anything about them.

MD: They’re a New Zealand act, who I guess have been compared to you guys, surely you’ve heard of Lorde. So they’re kind of managed by the same people.

CR: That’s the only context I’ve ever heard of Broods, is it Broods?

MD: Broods, yeah.

CR: That’s the only context I’ve heard of them like someone mentioning Lorde and then Broods.

MD: Do you think there is like a comparison to say to what you guys are doing to what Lorde is doing?

CR: Honestly I have no idea.

MD: Since what you’re making is made from electronics and synthesizers, I think theres a tendency for people to compare it to say 80s pop music because that’s when synthesizers kind of came in vogue. What is your touchstone as far as.. what kind of music do you think what you do is kind of based around?

CR: I would say the influences for it has really come from everything, all the music I’ve ever enjoyed through my lifetime, like ever from being like a little kid like loving Hanson.

MD: Right.

CR: And then being a 12 year old obsessed with like New Metal. You know, and then really getting into Hip Hop when I was 14, like all the textures through all that stuff. I feel like I pull from things like even if it’s not a musical genre that I even really listen to anymore or anything but I still feel like I pull things that I remember that I enjoyed from those. So yeah it’s really quite a competition of just like a really broad spectrum. But it doesn’t really, my inspiration doesn’t really come from any particular sort of era or genre.

MD: Right. Well I think we have to wrap this up. So I thank you very much for taking time to talk to me. Glad to hear you’re in sunny Los Angeles instead of freezing your butt off in Canada and hopefully when you get your tour sorted out, you’ll make it down to this part of the world.

CR: Yeah, we’re definitely planning to come down there as soon as we can.

MD: Excellent.