I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: February 27, 2020] Chris Pureka

I had not hear of Chris Pureka before this set, but they really blew me away.

Pureka has been making music for about twenty years and they have a fantastic stage presence.

Chris is never rushed, calmly getting things set up between each song and maybe chatting with us–or not.

For the first song, “Holy,” they played acoustic guitar and the song was really quite pretty.  But it was when Pureka turned away from the microphone and yelled a “Hey!” that I really paid attention to how they were singing.  Pureka’s voice is quiet, but when they did those “Hey”s their voice was loud and filled the room.  Fantastic.

Introducing “Tinder” Pureka says that they wrote the song back in 2009 when tinder had an entirely different (and nicer) meaning.

One of the cooler things was Pureka’s use of an electronic drum pad.  What I especially liked what their sparing use of it.  Because whenever that cavernous echoing drum jumped in to keep the beat, it made the song so much bigger.  But the spare use of it meant that it gave the song parts some extra oomph.

Pureka played acoustic and electric guitar and for the fourth song, they sat down (after joking about how the microphone was going to fall into their lap for sure).  The reason for sitting was because in addition to the electronic drum, there was also a tambourine and Chris used both feet to add the drum and a tambourine to these songs.

For “Cabin Fever” Pureka told a story about visiting a friend in Canada.  The two of them walked down a dirt road and saw an abandoned house.  There was a very cool bell sitting there and the friend said they should take it.  Pureka didn’t feel comfortable, but the friend eventually convinced them.  That’s why How I Learned to See in the Dark has a picture of the bell on the cover, it’s their karmic way of saying thanks.  That bell also inspired the song “Cabin Fever.”

Pureka described “Back in the Ring” as their “choose your own adventure” song.  If you wanted it to be happy, tap your feet and get into the music. Just don’t listen to the words.  But if you want a sad song, listen to the words.

Chris told us that they are from New England, then they moved to New York for a year and now they live in Portland.  Back in the Ring was written in New York and Portland and you can tell where the songs were written when you listen to the album because, “…I like Portland.”

The final song was back on acoustic guitar and Chris told us that even though “Wrecking Ball” (not the Miley Cyrus song) moves along briskly, it’s still sad.

After the song, Pureka waved and walked off.  They were understated, funny and sounded great.

At the merch table, Pureka was selling all kinds of stuff.  There were two women in front of me who drove all the way down from Rochester just to see Pureka.  That’s over five hours away!  That’s dedication.

They talked for quite awhile which I thought was really cool. And when I finally bought a CD, Pureka was super friendly, to me too.

SETLIST

Holy ß 
Tinder ß
Barn Song ♥
Betting on the Races ß
Cabin Fever ß
Back in the Ring ß
Wrecking Ball ♥

ß = Back in the Ring (2016)
♥ = How I Learned to See in the Dark (2010)