Ones To Watch: Pure Bathing Culture

‘Palest Pearl’ is the latest track from Portland-based band Pure Bathing Culture. It’s the second single from their new album Pray For Rain.

The track’s title is an allusion to a poem by Hilda Doolittle (H.D) – a significant feminist and literary figure during the 20th century. The song is a response to Doolittle’s ‘The Walls Do Not Fall’, and the closing line of the poem “that pearl-of-great-price” is where the track takes its name from.

With this context in mind, listeners might expect a song laced with weighty, unwelcoming, literary superiority – but Pure Bathing Culture’s ‘Palest Pearl’ is an easy and upbeat listening experience. Following in the tradition of their previous new age/blue-eyed-soul love songs, Daniel Hindman, Sarah Versprille, Zach Tillman & Brian Wright will have their listeners “Caught up in the rush of lust” and electronic sound.

Vocalist Sarah Versprille explains: “The song is asking the question how far would you be willing to go to and what would you be willing to lose?” Versprille also said the “duality” of this theme was of great interest to Pure Bathing Culture as a whole, and the mixture of serious allusion and the poppy, upbeat tempo reflects this in their latest offering.

Pure Bathing Culture have kept things stripped-back and simple on ‘Palest Pearl’ – and it sounds all the better for it. Versprille’s vocals hover over bouncing rhythms, and it’s this combination of elements which provides an optimistic, enchanting listen.

Pure Bathing Culture’s new album Pray For Rain, is released on 23 October via Memphis Industries.

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut