Pure Bathing Culture: Pray for Rain review – gauzy pop full of hidden dread

Sarah Vesprille and Daniel Hindman, the Portland-based duo who work as Pure Bathing Culture, follow a well-trodden route, combining the sounds of sunshine with lyrics exploring the unutterable fear of existence. So while the opening track, The Tower, feels like something you might hear in a beachfront bar at sunset, the lyrics were inspired by the disappearance of Malaysia Airline flight 370. In truth, you’d have be listening extremely closely to pick up on the the existential dread that apparently permeates the album: Pure Bathing Culture’s sound is so consistent – melodic, but slightly gauzy and blurred around the edges – that one gets caught in the sonics, and the singing becomes just another texture in the recording. And it’s their strength with melodies that will keep listeners coming back – Palest Pearl’s appeal lies in its bouncing bassline, rather than the fact it was inspired by an American expat poet of the 1940s. And on She Shakes they prove they have a sparklingly sure touch for the purest kind of guitar pop, with a song whose arpeggiated guitar line is a smile set to music.