Purity Ring’s newest record is a 2000s JRPG journey

Edmonton’s own electronic pop duo, Corin Roddick and M.J. of Purity Ring, is just releasing their self-titled record, Purity Ring, on September 26. 

“There’s no way we could have made [this record] unless we had done everything we’ve done already. It’s also a new era for us, releasing a full-length record independently,” M.J. said. 

Roddick added that they received an early draft of visuals with their name at the forefront, and that planted the seed of self-titling this project. “And, I think every artist is allowed one self-titled album in their career,” Roddick said. 

The new record is a conceptual project that incorporates the feel of Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) soundtracks. The visuals for the record go hand in hand with this as well, like the music video for “many lives” and “part ii,” which features 2000s videogame aesthetics as well.

Roddick said the aesthetic change “is a byproduct of how the music started sounding when we were working on it. It immediately gave us imagery of games that we played in [the 2000s]. And, it made sense to continue the connection visually with the art around the album.” 

“It’s a part of us in the way of childhood and our experiences with gaming, it fit with what came together and then it became more deliberate later on,” M.J. added. 

Purity Ring albums are their own worlds

On the new project being a concept album, M.J. said “whenever we make an album, we have referred to it as its own world. The music exists in a place or presents a very specific time and place for us in the real world. But, in the mind, it feels like its own planet. In that sense, we took that and conceptualized it off the bat rather than looking at it at the end and being like, ‘what does this look like?’” M.J. explained. 

Once they had three or four songs together, they were able to decide what the rest of the record would look like. “We were like, this makes a lot of sense in the context of these things that [Roddick] and I both have in common where we have a similar appreciation for JRPGs, but also the music in those games,” she added. 

Once they had an aesthetic in mind, they brought in their friend Mike Sunday, who creatively directed visuals for the record. “He had a lot of the same kind of inspiration as us and wanted to connect those dots visually to the inspiration and the music,” Roddick said. 

“It’s in a sense, what we’ve always done, but in a more deliberate way,” M.J. said. She added that it was helpful to have more structure and that it gave them “a place to go for answers when [they] got stuck.” 

 “The whole of our music, except the EP, exists within this album framework,” M.J. says

She said that as a whole, the individual songs act as “a scene or a place within this construct. But then there are themes that carry throughout.” For M.J., the record is about grief and hope in the time before and after it was written. 

The record, narratively, has “different characters speaking to each other through different planes of existence. But then I feel it gives itself context when everything is together, and a song out of context can feel different,” M.J. said. 

This concept isn’t new for Purity Ring either. “The whole of our music, except the EP, exists within this album framework,” M.J. said. 

For Roddick, creating this record felt “very effortless and sort of seamless, [but] still had its challenges.” 

“I hope people feel something … and I would love it if people could take what they need,” M.J. says

Holding the concept to 2000s role-playing games helped keep the writing process on track. “We hit on this concept that felt really connected to the first couple of tracks that we had made. And that gave us a roadmap to work through and gave us the rules of the world. For me on the production side, that really helped me narrow things down and make choices. Everything was like, ‘does this fit in the world, yes or no?’ And I could imagine different landscapes that the characters would be existing in and try to compose specifically to represent the moods of that landscape. It was a different type of inspiration that felt like we had a lot of purpose,” Roddick explained. 

JRPGs, and role-playing games in general, are often journey focused narratives, and the record falls in line with this. On the best place to listen to the record, Roddick said hiking and M.J. said driving at night. “This album, more than anything we’ve done so far, feels like a journey as you’re listening to it,” Roddick said. 

On what she hopes people take from the record, M.J. said “I hope people feel something. I feel a lot on this record … and I would love it if people could take what they need.” 

While there aren’t any upcoming Edmonton shows currently set, the duo did say they would love to come back at some point. 
Purity Ring is releasing on September 26. And, it features Roddick’s cat, Mochi’s meow.