Pure Bathing Culture Has the Lodge Room Swaying: Ten years ago, this writer interviewed Pure Bathing Culture‘s Sarah Versprille for another publication, and in describing the Portland group’s sound she said, “I guess it’s pop music. It’s hard – we write music and our passion is for writing music and songwriting, so we strive to write music that we like writing and make the music that we want to make. As far as describing it, I leave that up to other people.”

Of the Portland scene, and their place in it, she said “It’s super-laid back and really affordable. It’s a great place to be able to be creative. For us, it’s been amazing. We moved here from New York so it’s been a great change for us. As far as being representative of the scene, I guess so. We love living here, and are happy to be representative of such a great city.”

That was 2014, at which time they had only released their Moon Tides debut album. In the decade since, four more full-length records have dropped, including last year’s self-released Chalice. What that should all tell you, from the answers Versprille offered back then to their DIY ethic today, is that this is a band intent on doing things exactly how they want to. They’re writing songs that they enjoy writing and performing. It just happens to be wonderful that other people love those songs too.

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(Brett Callwood)

The Lodge Room is a wonderful venue in Highland Park — art decorates the walls, the ceiling is ornate and the elevated sound man knows his shit. On Sunday evening, all of those elements made for a gloriously cathartic experience.

PBC have been compared to everyone from Fleetwood Mac to Tennis, and both of those do make sense. This is a band that focusses hard on the song. There’s little in the way of performance, of “show,” except for some smart mood lighting. Rather, the band lets each song do the talking for them.

Songs from the debut, such as “Pendulum,” are understandably well received. But my god, newbies such as “The Fountain” and “The Memento” wash over like a welcome wave. The melodies are overt but in no way jarring, Daniel Hindman’s riffs chunky but beautifully fuzzy. There are shoegaze elements but it’s never dull.

Pure Bathing Culture massages the soul and, in these turbulent times, that’s much-needed.

Pure Bathing Culture Has the Lodge Room Swaying: Visit purebathingculture.com for more info. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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