Photo by Renata Raksha

Purity Ring: "begin again" (via SoundCloud)

When Purity Ring’s first singles started circulating four years ago, the duo categorized themselves “future pop”—a canny appraisal that was both boastful and evasive, shifting the onus to the listener to frame a genre that doesn’t even exist yet. In actuality, when singer Megan James’ macabre lyrics and acute melodies were set against the metallic clangor of Corin Roddick’s production, it resulted in a fresh combination of scalable synth-pop, hip-hop, and Burial-influenced dubstep—minimally arranged music that still could trigger a festival-ready light show capable of competing with most EDM acts. The pair’s idea of the future eventually came to pass, as their debut Shrines remains a definitive time capsule for the sound of 2012 (and 2013). When I ask them if they’ve heard blatant Purity Ring ripoffs in the past few years, James is blunt: “Constantly.”

But as they sit in their hotel in the midst of a European press junket at the end of January, they keep circling back to how the band that can least afford to sound like Shrines in 2015 is Purity Ring. As the Strokes or the xx can attest, the downside to having such laser focus on a debut can involve an inability to escape such narrow confines on the follow-up. So the duo spent a good portion of the last three years simultaneously touring Shrines while also trying to distance themselves from it. “We took about a year and a half after the completion of the first record before we even started this one, which was partially because we weren’t really sure what to do next,” Roddick admits. “We didn’t want to be redundant.”

So for their forthcoming second album, Another Eternity, Roddick and James became true collaborators rather than just two musicians with Internet connections; whereas Shrines was the product of trans-Canadian email exchanges, the new record had both members decamping to their home city of Edmonton to workshop new songs in real time.

Danny Brown: "25 Bucks" [ft. Purity Ring] (via SoundCloud)

The two have also become more collaborative outside of the confines of Purity Ring, contributing to avowed superfan Danny Brown’s 2013 track “25 Bucks”—a combination that shouldn’t be so surprising, according to Roddick. “A lot of our drum programming and rhythms are hip-hop-inspired, though some of our fans probably don’t notice that because maybe they don’t listen to a lot of hip-hop,” says the producer, who cites Drake’s right-hand man Noah “40” Shebib and Mike WiLL Made It as inspirations for his beatmaking. “People who are involved in hip-hop don’t really separate [us] that far from what they normally might listen to, and they’re also excited about combining vocals with Megan to create a very strong juxtaposition between the two.”

When describing the process of creating Another Eternity, James offers, “It felt like we were starting a new band.” That said, it is unmistakably the work of Purity Ring, albeit with darker, trap-influenced rhythms and James’ newfound proclivity for emotional revelation. The titles of new songs “Push Pull”, “Repetition”, and “Begin Again” could read as self-aware references to their ability to break through doubts. As Roddick tells me, “It was a bit of a mindfuck thinking about how much you can change and how much you should stay the same.”

Pitchfork: Were there times during the making of this record where you thought, “This is a little too Purity Ring”?

Megan James: I wouldn’t say we attempted to make it less like us. We did a few things that were generally different, but most of it was due to the writing process.

Corin Roddick: It was a tricky place to be in because, with a second album, we’re trying to evolve and we wanna be new and exciting with whatever new music we’re releasing. But we also have a fan base that likes us for the first album we put out.

Pitchfork: Did working in the same studio demystify the artistic process between the two of you?

CR: We just had a better understanding of how we each work. Before, we would do our own things and just smash them together, but there was a lot of back and forth this time, which is great because you know where the person is coming from. But there wasn’t a big reveal. I don’t like to look over Megan’s shoulder as she writes lyrics.

MJ: I feel like I was still really secretive.

Pitchfork: The lyrics on Another Eternity are more in the present tense than those of Shrines.

MJ: There is a huge difference. Shrines was introspective, where I was searching out something inside myself. But this record feels like a representation of my life over the past three years; I made a lot of changes. I left a city and moved back home and changed my entire environment. A lot of times, it had to do with other people rather than my own self-searching shit. There’s a lot more “you” and “she.”

Pitchfork: Was there a point where you started to realize that new acts were trying to sound like Purity Ring?

CR: It’s more flattering than anything.

MJ: You can’t be mad about it.

CR: At the same time, it inspires us to want to keep moving forward, because maybe something that was really exciting at the time doesn’t feel as exciting because a lot of other people are doing it. And that’s just more of a reason to drive ourselves. We need to do something that feels fresh to us.

Pitchfork: Do you still feel “future pop” is an accurate descriptor?

MJ: “Future pop” sounds like a safe thing to call ourselves because it doesn’t mean anything. It just feels comfortable, and that’s nice when you’re defining yourself as an artist, because nothing is going to make sense or feel right. Hopefully it stays without meaning.