Purity Ring w/YOUNG MAGIC: at The Cannery Ballroom (Nashville, TN) Fri. January 25, 2013

Purity Ring w/YOUNG MAGIC

Presented by AC Entertainment

Pop/Rock

Nashville Scene Critic's Pick …

It’s tempting to confer flash-in-the-pan status on Purity Ring. The Canadian duo were Pitchfork darlings almost as soon as they posted one (possibly their only) song to Tumblr. They entered an increasingly cluttered landscape of fledgling guy/girl teams making Urban Outfitters-friendly pop indebted to R&B and hip-hop. They weren’t even sure they were a band. And while we shouldn’t assume beatmaker Corin Roddick and singer Megan James will retire so easily to the Once Blog-Famous wasteland, the odds aren’t good. But Purity Ring’s debut Shrines (4AD) makes me think the act could very well beat those odds. Roddick in particular is part of a growing wave of young producers who appear to have been born with a wizardly grasp of Ableton Live, his woozy beats as sophisticated as anything on the Hot 100. Purity Ring conjures a sort of chopped and screwed dream-pop that wouldn’t be out of place almost anywhere young people lurk, virtual or otherwise, and a recent collaboration with ascendant rapper Danny Brown indicates they’ve got the kind of savvy and pluck that keeps heads turned their way.

—RYAN BURLESON