Post Description
Chris Pureka - How I Learned to See In The Dark (2010)
mp3 VBR~226 kbps | 82 MB
Alternative Folk, Americana, Indie Folk
“In an age of fleeting success and temporary notions, Chris Pureka is an artist of substance, armed with an eye for detail and an emotional intelligence that can switch from withering to compelling with a subtle inflection. Her third studio album, How I Learned To See In the Dark, adds bold new elements to the base she has built over her eight-year career: non-traditional percussion, lyrical abstraction, a new unrestrained vocal quality, and Pureka''s choice of co-producer (longtime friend Merrill Garbus of tUnE-YaRds) all signal an exploration of broader musical soundscapes. <CDbaby>
Rarely does an artist like Chris Pureka come along. In an age of fleeting success and temporary notions, Pureka is an artist of substance, armed with a sharp eye for oft-missed details and an emotional intelligence that can switch from withering to compelling with a subtle inflection. Now, with her third studio album How I Learned To See In the Dark, Pureka adds some bold new elements to the solid foundation she has been building throughout her ever-escalating eight-year career.
While maintaining the unique alchemy of longing, loss and hope Pureka sets to music, there is a sonic adventurism on How I Learned to See in the Dark that marks a new stage in Pureka’s musical evolution. Even from the first notes of the album’s opening track, “Wrecking Ball”, longtime fans and the newly converted will sense that How I Learned To See In The Dark is a bigger album, deeper and more vast than anything she’s released to date. “I wanted it to feel different right away,” Pureka explains. “And ‘Wrecking Ball’ exemplifies many of the elements that are different from the last record.” That difference is a newfound edginess, coupled with a more abstract sound: there is a musical depth and complexity that shines through each track, all the while maintaining the space and creative instrumentation Pureka is known for. Standout track, “Landlocked”, showcases Pureka’s technical prowess with the finger-picking style that won her so many accolades on Dryland while “Broken Clock” is the rhythm driven, heavy hitter bound to be on your next break up mix. “Wrecking Ball” mixes a playful quirkiness in production with an underlying paced anger, laced with twangs of percussive guitar. Finally, album closer, “August 28th” is the deep breath following the emotional tumult that precedes it – a return to quiet contemplation for the writer and the listener: “I think the whole world needs a shoeshine/I think we’re all living proof.”
With her 2004 debut LP, Driving North, Pureka started a career as a touring troubadour and began building an impressive fan base from the ground up: a fan base that started in her native New England and steadily grew to a national level. Fans and critics alike were drawn to her uniquely haunting voice and her acute attention to lyrical detail. Still others lauded her aptitude for crafting guitar parts that speak for themselves. “[She] is such a gifted guitar player and singer that you have to listen to each song twice, once for her guitar playing and again for her passionate lyrics about love, loss and hope.” (The Boston Globe) With her 2006 follow-up, Dryland, Pureka further expanded on the emotional topography she charted earlier in her career: continuing to tour and significantly increase her fan base, and catching critics’ attention with that signature voice that makes heartbreak somehow sound desirable.
Throughout her career, Pureka has prized autonomy over ease. She has released her albums independently and plays upwards of 200 dates a year, enabling her to maintain a great deal of control over her process. “Independent has become such a buzz word these days. But it’s how I’ve always done it. I’m 100% independent, which means that I am not on an “indie label”, I have and am my own label.”
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