Pure X – Crawling Up The Stairs

Pure X – Crawling Up the Stairs (Acephale)

This Austin trio once described their sound as ‘40 degrees + raining + out of coffee + out of cash’. Their 2011 debut, Pleasure, was indeed somber and defeated sounding, yet it possessed an ethereal, anaesthetic beauty. As if running out of coffee wasn’t bad enough, things got even tougher for Pure X following Pleasure’s release, as multiple band members endured breakups and singer Nate Grace suffered a debilitating leg injury which left him on crutches for much of last year. Crawling Up the Stairs recounts this painful period in Pure X’s existence, with the band setting a groovy, often improvised stage upon which Grace’s narrator tumbles downwards, thrashes about in frustration, and ultimately claws his way back out of hell. Coarser but braver and more satisfying than their debut.

by Carly Blair