I hadn’t heard of the two person electronic band, Purity Ring, more than a week prior to seeing them in concert on January 29th. When a friend introduced me to their song, “Fineshrine” it wasn’t love at first listening. My affection for the band took only a day to develop and did so through another song on their album, Shrines, titled “Lofticries.” Purity Ring, established in 2011, is comprised of Megan James and Corin Roddick, both of whom are of Canadian and in their early twenties. The band’s first return to Philadelphia since playing here in a church basement, was held at Union Transfer, a substantially larger venue. It was still a more intimate concert setting than ones I’d been previously to such as that of Wells Fargo. The lights were slightly dimmed and the concert hall had two levels, in which those of age to drink could do so on the upper level. The place gradually became packed with an ethnically diverse (and rather stylish) crowd, predominantly with younger people in their teens to early 20s.
Despite its promise of an 8:30 opening act, the show started around 9:30. Young Magic, a triple act and also an electronic band, opened for Purity Ring. Young Magic’s music has also been classified as psychedelic rock and alternative hip-hop, which I find to be a more apt description. I could not independently categorize the genres they fused as their type of music made me feel sheltered when concerning my level of experience with music that wasn’t mainstream. Isaac Emmanuel, Michael Italia, and Melati Melay of Young Magic are all from Brooklyn, New York although Emmanuel and Italia were born in Australia and Melay in Indonesia. Some of their songs such as “Sparkly” were mainly instrumental while others incorporated singing and rapping. At times, their music reminded me of tribal chants while in other instances, I felt they would have been a good fit for Woodstock. The experience of listening to Young Magic could even be informally classified as “trippy.” When Young Magic finished their opening act, it wasn’t the last we’d be seeing of them as they’d later collaborate with James and Roddick in “Grandloves.”
Photo: Young Magic
While the audience appreciated and seemed to enjoy the music of Young Magic, they anxiously awaited the arrival of Purity Ring. We bobbed our heads to a stereo emitting Nicki Minaj’s “Come on a Cone”, Kendrick Lamar’s “Backseat Freestyle,” and a remake of Ciara’s “Ride” (as well as other songs I was not expecting to hear at an electronic concert) until Purity Ring finally graced us with their presence. James entered the stage with a short sleeve black dress, which is said to be handmade, and very high heels. They opened with “Amenamy” and made fans wait until the end for their most favored song, which was evident by the cheers and applause when the beat for “Fineshrine” began. While James’ entrancing voice and Roddick’s instrumentation would have been sufficient for me, they visually entertained the audience as the concert almost doubled as a light show.
There were large, oval shaped luminosities that hung close to the stage and Roddick moved the audience with a custom built instrument which would illuminate each time Roddick played a note. James would also irradiate her instrumental accompaniment with a large drum that light up every time she struck it and held a brightly lit wand near her face for the performance of “Lofticries.” While I wasn’t initially sure if I’d heard the artist’s name correctly, with three Shrines songs left to perform, the duo surprised the audience by covering Soulja Boy’s “Grammy.” I could hardly tell it was a Hip-Hop song because James made it her own.
Photo: Purity Ring
A dance performance from James was not expected from James nor did it happen. Their style of music as well as James’ shoes didn’t necessitate it, but James did often move her hands as if mimicking a bug, adding to the tantalizing eeriness of some of the music.
My previous concert experiences comprised performances from Destiny’s Child, Lady Gaga, and Rihanna so seeing Purity Ring in such an intimate venue as Union Transfer was entirely new and something I enjoyed considerably. Hearing electronic music to the likings of Purity Ring in a live setting was a treasured experience although the meaning of their songs can be extremely ambiguous and James was quoted as saying that her music is inspired by her dreams.