Purpur Spytt Scavenges, Time-Travels, and Scrapbooks LP
Charlotte Mermoud (of Leipzig-via-Geneva post-punks the STACHES and MARAUDEUR) has used the PURPUR SPYTT project name for her (mostly) solo efforts since 2016, and true to title, Scavenges, Time-Travels, and Scrapbooks collects songs that Mermoud wrote from the start of PURPUR SPYTT to 2023 but only recorded in the last year or two, culled from notebook jottings, phone recordings, and other temporary resting places as a means of clearing the slate. PURPUR SPYTT songs have always been vehicles for Mermoud’s stark, hypnotic bass lines and deadpan, sometimes mundane/sometimes surreal spoken word monologues, with elemental Möbius loop rhythms bumping hips against the likes of ESG, LIZZY MERCIER DESCLOUX, or more recently SNEAKS—aside from a handful of brief field recording/sound collage interludes, it’s all rug-cutting heat. The loping bass groove of “Party Town” twists around cowbell-flecked drum machine beats and blasts of disintegrating synth like DELTA 5 if they’d been on Grand Royal in the ’90s, the rubbery, wound-up bounce of “On a Circle” nails the feeling of claustrophobic anxiety that so many modern DEVO disciples only wish they could hit, and “The Circumstances” (originally written for the STACHES) slinks along a minimal electro-punk wave before breaking into a frenzied freakout of keyboard squeal, drum machine rattle, and needling guitar. No sketchy throwaways or half-baked curios here!