rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Although critical press acclaim has trickled in from various parts of the country as well as Europe and Canada, Austin-based Purchase New York’s debut full-length, in vitro veritas, has largely been missed by the music listening public – despite how utterly good it is.
The album begins with a slow ascent of drones, tones, and controlled feedback building on top of each other and compounding into what feels like an impending glorious sonic apocalypse. Purchase New York is not afraid to stretch a note longer and longer until the listener is wholly overwhelmed and sucked in and the song breaks into crescending melodies weaving in and out of each other growing into enormous proportions that seemlessly blend both the ethereal and the hellish.
Utilizing three guitars, bass, keys, drums, electronics, and a mountain of blinking effects pedals, the band can create an incredibly diverse set of sounds and approaches songwriting from an orchestral sensibility allowing them to farther explore their musical pallettes. “Our songs are series of ideas and sonic moments, each able to stand on its own, but forming a cohesive whole when presented as a progression of movements,” primary songwriter and frontman Stephen Khoury says.
As a result, the band has earned comparisons to orchestral bands such as Explosions In the Sky, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Mogwai. Their genuine rock intensity and wide vocal range has also likened them to Led Zeppelin and bands such as Pink Floyd and Radiohead who have embraced pushing their music beyond traditional rock.
“The simplistic formulae of most rock song structures doesn’t interest us. We’re attempting to push the compositional and tonal boundaries of those traditions, allowing our inspirations to embrace diverse musical areas,” multi-instrumentalist Loren Dent says.
– anatol ziege
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