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It's a rare and beautiful thing when a band emerges fully formed, but it makes perfect sense in the case of guitarist Daniel Hindman and keyboardist Sarah Versprille’s Pure Bathing Culture. Having backed folk rock revisionist Andy Cabic in Vetiver, the New Yorkers partnered up and moved west in 2011, settling in Portland, Oregon.

In a short time the duo have created a sound that is undeniably their own: soaring synths, chiming keyboards, and shimmering electric guitars move in lockstep with bouncing drum machines, with Sarah’s crystalline voice floating on top of it all with divine purpose. It’s a sound that looks back momentarily for inspiration - Talk Talk, Prefab Sprout, Cocteau Twins - but then fixes its gaze firmly on the present.

Further developing the sound of their acclaimed four song, self-titled 2012 EP, at the start of 2013 they set out to record ‘Moon Tides’, their first full length album. Again, they chose to work with producer Richard Swift at his National Freedom studio in rural Cottage Grove, Oregon. Throughout 2012 Swift had called on the duo to help him with other studio projects (Versprille sings on Foxygen’s latest album and Hindman adds his sprawling guitar work to Damien Jurado’s excellent ‘Marqopa’) which only helped to cement the threesome’s musical partnership.

Like the earlier sessions for the EP, they worked quickly in the studio and improvised parts around the basic song structures that they’d carefully composed up in Portland. Dan explains, “Pretty much all tracks (vocals and instruments) are all first or very early takes. Richard is kind of a stickler about this and I actually don't go in with a clean, pristine idea of what I'm going to play on guitar or any other instrument for that matter, so there's actually a lot of improvisation as far as performances in the studio go.”

It’s this compassion and warmth in Pure Bathing Culture that set them apart. The music is uplifting. It invites self-reflection. It never feels alienating. ‘Pendulum’ is a perfect mid-tempo album opener that pulses and shines. Other standout tracks from the album - ‘Dream The Dare’, ‘Twins’, ‘Scotty’ and ‘Golden Girl’ - are slices of reverb-drenched, soulful, danceable electropop that musically and lyrically tap into an introspective worship of the natural and psychic mysteries that surround us.

Pure Bathing Culture’s debut album Moon Tides is optimistic modern music for souls who seek to explore the infinite.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Gorgeous dream-pop for fans of Beach House and the like. Perfect for the summer.

TRACK LISTING

Pendulum
Dream The Dare
Evergreener
Twins
Only Lonely Lovers
Scotty
Seven 2 One
Golden Girl
Temples Of The Moon