This Is Our Jam: Purity Ring, “Belispeak”

In an age where MP3s drip from the Internet one leaked glob of digits at a time, many lament the fading prominence of the album as an art form. While I tend to share this sentiment, there’s also a pretty good case to be made that a song-by-song distribution method isn’t such a terrible thing. Enter: Purity Ring, a Canadian duo with exactly three tracks to their name, including new single “Belispeak.” Each song so far has been a breathtaking mixture of childlike vocals, schizoid hip-hop beasts, and pop melody that feels like the work of a group with years of practice under their belt (see previously Jam’d track “Ungirthed”). Like the last two releases, “Belispeak” keeps things effortlessly light, yet beneath Megan James’ breathy delivery, evocative lyrics overflow with a warped poeticism. The track skips and stutters, shifts and swells in an ever-changing sea of Southern rap snare taps and pitch-shifted blurps. If each new Purity Ring release is this good, who cares when we get an album?