Hats off to the power of the internet to occasionally bring the most exciting new music to the surface – even when it’s coming from mysterious sources. Back when Google searches for Purity Ring would only take you to chastity seminars, the male/female (producer/singer) duo from Edmonton released a single called “Ungirthed” into the destiny-determining gears of the web. It was followed by two other striking pieces of electro-pop. All said and done, the three singles were released over a period of fifteen months. So what we have is a band who emerged from obscurity to release one single every few months, somehow building considerable momentum in the process. Needless to say, these were strong songs. What’s more amazing is the album they’ve finally led us to: a 38-minute head trip through sparkling, electronic nightmare-pop entitled “Shrines.”

There are no new ingredients here – high-pitched vocal samples, layers of synth, pulsing drum beats – but the manipulation of the standard inputs unites familiarity with the sense that something entirely new is evolving. The sweet, childlike voice of Megan James floats through the songs like a ghost, subject to electronic contortion, keeping you entranced as she fills your brain with violent imagery. The lyrics range from eerie to unsettlingly masochistic. “Grandma, I’ve been unruly…” she confesses on “Belispeak,” as if raising her voice through fog while sampled breaths rise and falter in abbreviated clips. “Drill little holes into my eyelids so I might see you in my sleep,” she later sings. The overall effect is something like eavesdropping on a dark celebration of love and contented loneliness, physical connection and mortal despair, with the untraceable knowledge that some danger is looming just ahead. But the climate changes slightly each time around – like a repeating dream, subtle but significant differences appear with each new trip that can lend new meaning to the experience. So, as far as repeat value goes, this album can take a beating. And that makes sense – if Purity Ring could keep us on their hook for fifteen months with only three songs, then a whole album could take years to unpack.