Doldrums have been making a big noise both in the music media and physically: tonight is no exception.
The band, helmed by vocalist Alrick Woodhead rattle Stereo’s upstairs windows with agitated, glitchy sonic stabs topped with his gender bending vocals.
Pounding through tracks ‘Egypt’ and ‘Jump Up’, the band craft a multi-layered sonic riot with all the mastery of a string quartet, juggling a collection of electronics that makes Tron look like a Comet clearance sale.
By the time they’ve finished you can’t help checking that your front teeth are still intact because your ears certainly aren’t.
Between bands the crowd’s curiosity begins to peak as Stereo’s Spartan stage has been transformed into what looks like some sort of alien birthing chamber for Purity Ring’s Glasgow debut.
The stage is adorned with things resembling giant eggs hanging down from the ceiling and a strange H.R Giger style desk decked with Polygonal orbs resembling mutant diamonds.
All is explained when the prodigious Canadians eventually appear, swimming through the pillowy smoke to open with ‘Belispeak’.
The band weave dense layers of heavy vocal loops and glistening chirps, spinning out from the polygonal orbs which Corin Roddick plays like an extra-terrestrial drum kit, lighting up in muted hues as he strikes.
While the duo wrap melodic rings round the room, the multi coloured alien lamps flare on and off in time to the music making the whole experience feel like an enchanting witching ceremony.
Despite this, throughout the set, the crowd remain listless and unmoving, barely even reacting when favourite ‘Obedear’ chimes out resulting in vocalist Megan James describing the floor as a “tough crowd”.
Whether this is due to an unusual apathy or some sort of lulling trance induced by the empyrean beauty of the sets combined visual and audial elements is uncertain, nevertheless, the duo are unperturbed, Corin convulses and writhes with the music throwing his arms around with a fury that doesn’t quite match the fragile tenderness of the sound he’s creating.
To his left, through the haze Megan illuminates herself with an industrial orange lamp while selectively striking a large bass drum on stilts which, when struck, emanates a fiery glow and an artillery-like boom.
As the duo work their way through their debut Shrines with entrancing tracks such as ‘Lofticries’ and ‘Ungirthed’ it would be too easy to let yourself be carried off to another plain all together but a few jarring errors from Corin and some discordant vocal effects keep you grounded.
But for the sheer amount of work the duo are putting in you would expect a few mistakes and with such a phenomenal live show you can surely forgive them.
It’s not often that bands go to such lengths to enshrine all the senses, particularly in small venues, but Purity Ring do it with such grace that the next few gigs you attend will probably seem a little bit mundane.
Words: Catriona Reilly
Photos: Ann-Margaret Campbell
