Take Purity Ring’s debut album, Shrines, and smooth over the jagged, untamed edges with sand paper until they conform to a softer, more manageable format and you get their latest album, Another Eternity.

Moving away from their alien sound and skittish stop/start rhythms, the quirky electronic duo (Megan James and Corin Roddick) seem to have succumbed to the pressures of main stream music and adhered to radio waves, almost asking for a genre or definition that previously could not be applied.

Although, Purity Ring will arguably never be normcore, tracks like ‘Begin Again’ and ‘Push Pull’ seem to have followed the same recipe as many predeceasing EDM tracks. Whilst both are catchy and successful tunes screaming for airplay, they feel a world away from the quirky, unpredictable nature that meant ‘Purity Ring’ to so many fans. Instead, the tracks are tamed and manufactured, following a premeditated style that’s previous absence was ironically what Purity Ring fans treasured most.

Lyrically, the album is still as imaginative and ‘what the f*ck” inducing as anything the Canadian duo have previously penned. In ‘Reputation’ Megan hauntingly chimes “make your way through my tears” and “climb up in my rattling spine”, with the gross imagery contrasting to the angelic softness of her harmonic vocals. Maybe it’s nonsense, but it works and is a real asset to the album as some kind of alternative sucker punch, blowing other electronic dance bands out of the water and paving the way for a new breed… or so we hope.

Perhaps I’m narrow minded in terms of pining the loss of the second Shrines album that never was, because for what this album is (an electronic pop album) it is pretty good. The songs play on an internal loop in your mind long after their original listen and all would fit perfectly in festival dance tents or music halls around the world due to their anthemic nature. Although they are no longer in the musical form of a Marmite position, Another Eternity is by no means bread and butter or everybody’s cup of tea. Food puns aside, this is an album of a tame, conformed Purity Ring, but a good album none the less.

Another Eternity is out now via 4AD.

Jess Readett

@jessreadett