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Purr

An indie pop duo whose music has a retro vibe buoyed by smooth melodies, a naturalistic sound, and warm harmonies, Purr is a collaboration between songwriters, musicians, and longtime friends Eliza Barry Callahan and Jack Staffen. The two previously worked together as Jack + Eliza, but while that project emphasized spare and stripped-down accompaniment, Purr's recordings feature a fuller sound with a larger palette of instrumental flavors that often references '60s pop. Purr introduced themselves to the world with a 2018 single, "Bad Advice" b/w "Painted Memory," that showed off their talents as both writers and vocalists, and they further refined their style on their first full-length album, 2020's Like New. 2023's Who Is Afraid of Blue? saw Purr adding electronic flourishes and more expansive arrangements to their sound. Eliza Barry Callahan and Jack Staffen were friends since childhood, and they began making music together when they were in eighth grade and Callahan started playing drums in a band led by Staffen. By the time the two were in high school, they were writing songs together, and they took their collaboration seriously enough that they kept making music together when they went to college. (As it happened, both were studying in New York City -- Staffen attended the Gallatin School at New York University, while Callahan enrolled at Columbia University.) Their music came to the attention of Yebo Music, a record label and artist's management concern, and Yebo brought out their debut release as Jack + Eliza, the five-song EP No Wonders, in 2014. A full-length album, Gentle Warnings, was issued in 2015, and the album found an audience, with two of the songs, "Oh No" and "Hold the Line," receiving extensive play on streaming services. (The latter even managed to appear on Volume 53 of the Now That's What I Call Music! series of pop hits collections.) While Jack + Eliza continued to play occasional live shows, no new recordings emerged, while a November 2016 social media post from the duo stated, "We're working very hard on new stuff for you in new formats and in different ways." In February 2018, they debuted their new project, Purr, with a three-night stand at the New York City club Baby's All Right, and later the same month, they posted a digital single with two songs from Purr, "Bad Advice" b/w "Painted Memory." The latter tune racked up over two million plays on major streaming services, and after delivering another track, "Gates of Cool," in November 2018, the group struck a deal with the artist-friendly independent label Anti- Records. The first full-length album from Purr, Like New, arrived in February 2020. Shortly after the release of the album, Callahan suffered a health scare that caused her to lose most of her hearing, forcing the duo to put all their activities on hold, while the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the live music business around the same time. After a year, Callahan participated in a medical trial for a new treatment for hearing loss. She experienced a full recovery, and she and Staffen quickly got to work on fresh music. Six months later, they completed work on the songs that would become their second album, Who Is Afraid of Blue?, which was issued by Anti- in June 2023.
© Mark Deming /TiVo
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Discography

20 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller

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