Purr is the moniker of early-twenty-something-year-old self-proclaimed psych-pop duo Jack Staffen and Eliza Barry Callahan, from Manhattan, New York. They released their debut album Like New in February of 2020 on ANTI- Records.
The Purr collaborative dynamic is largely driven by the lifelong friendship of Callahan and Staffan, whose previous project, Jack & Eliza, garnered acclaim of a similar caliber. Although Jack & Eliza also saw the pair predominantly informed by the 1960s, it was vastly more minimal, both instrumentally and ideologically.
Purr's formation in 2017 (and subsequent drafting of Foxygen's Jonathan Rado as producer) allowed the group to redefine itself, this time pursuing tasteful complexity on the resulting LP, appropriately titled Like New.
Not unlike the efforts of Purr contemporaries Weyes Blood and Whitney, for whom Rado has also produced, much of Like New's throwback feel is a result of the duo's penchant for vintage analog gear, as evidenced by the reel-to-reel tape machine through which the entire album was filtered. In addition, the record is laden with instrumental and melodic detail; head-turning key changes and creative motifs await around every corner.
The magic of Purr comes from its ability to disorient -- leaving the listener to wonder whether the romantic nostalgia of Like New was, in fact, a preserved remnant of the 1970s, which by some miracle evolved and grew with the ages, and came out the other side completely modern.
Listen to Like New and find @PurrBand on Instagram.
Sources
Chiu, D. (2020, March 11). Purr's latest album achieves 'like new' perfection. Forbes. Retrieved
January 24, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidchiu/2020/03/11/purrs-latest-
album-achieves-like-new-perfection/?sh=24d2cb051498
Anti-. (n.d.). Purr. Anti Records. Retrieved January 24, 2022, from
https://www.anti.com/artists/purr/