Pure Bathing Culture premiered the second single, “Palest Pearl” today. The track is from their forthcoming album, Pray For Rain, out October 23. The song is based on a poem by H. D. – short for Hilda Doolittle, an early 20th century feminist writer and thinker. Her work was highly influential and progressive for its time; She was the first female poet to earn the American Academy of Arts and Letters gold medal. “Palest Pearl” is written in response to the fourth poem from ‘The Walls Do Not Fall’ – part of her Trilogy.

The last stanza reads:

be indigestible, hard, ungiving
so that, living within,
you beget, self-out-of-self,
selfless,
that pearl-of-great-price.

Singer Sarah Versprille explains, “The song is asking the question how far would you be willing to go to and what would you be wiling to lose? For us, there’s duality in this theme in the sense that there are good and bad stories of how far people are willing to go in order to achieve their own ‘pearl of greatest price’.”

Pray For Rain is the band’s second studio album and first with producer John Congleton (St. Vincent, Swans, Angel Olsen, The Walkmen) at the helm. It is a big leap forward which one can hear from the opening notes of their anthemic title track: in Hindman’s clean yet serpentine guitar lines interacting with the live rhythm section and Versprille’s lucid vocals cutting through it all. Pray for Rain is the sound of the group confidently taking a step up to the next level and finding their footing as a true band.

Versprille summarizes the Pray for Rain experience as one of “stepping into the realm of discovering who we are as a band and as songwriters,” echoing a theme of the album itself, the process of change and transition. “You can find the best version of yourself in those hardest moments,” she said.

Pray For Rain will be released October 23 on Partisan Records in the US (Memphis Industries in the EU). The band shared their first single, the title track “Pray For Rain,” with Zane Lowe’s flagship show on Beats1 and a deep-diving Q&A and stream on Interview Magazine. The album is available for pre-order now.

Pure Bathing Culture begin a North American headline tour in Seattle on September 18 and will hit major markets across the U.S. and Canada including New York City, Philadelphia, Toronto, Montreal, Washington DC, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. They will be joined by indie pop act & fellow Portland residents, Wild Ones. A full list of dates is available below and tickets are on sale now.

Pray For Rain
October 23, 2015
Partisan Records

Track listing:
1. The Tower
2. Pray For Rain
3. Palest Pearl
4. Clover
5. Darling, Save Us
6. Singer
7. She Shakes
8. Maximillian’s Ring
9. I Trace Your Symbol
10. In the Night, In the Peaceful Night

Tour Dates
09/18/15 – Seattle, WA – Barboza *
09/19/15 – Vancouver, BC – Fortune Sound Club *
09/22/15 – Fargo, ND – Studio 222 *
09/23/15 – St. Paul, MN – Turf Club *
09/24/15 – Madison, WI – The Frequency *
09/25/15 – Chicago, IL – Schubas *
09/26/15 – Champaign, IL – Pygmalion Music Festival
09/27/15 – Cincinnati, OH – Midpoint Music Festival
09/28/15 – Columbus, OH – The Basement *
09/29/15 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Tavern *
10/01/15 – Toronto, ON – The Drake *
10/02/15 – Montreal, QC – Bar Le Ritz *
10/03/15 – Boston, MA – Middle East Upstairs *
10/04/15 – Brooklyn, NY – Baby’s All Right *
10/06/15 – Philadelphia, PA – Boot & Saddle *
10/07/15 – Washington, DC – DC9 *
10/08/15 – Carborro, NC – Cat’s Cradle Back Room *
10/09/15 – Atlanta, GA – Drunken Unicorn *
10/10/15 – Asheville, NC – The Mothlight *
10/12/15 – St. Louis, MO – The Demo *
10/13/15 – Kansas City, MO – Record Bar *
10/27/15 – Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
10/29/15 – San Francisco, CA – The Chapel *
11/01/15 – Santa Barbara, CA – SOhO Restaurant and Music Club *
11/02/15 – Los Angeles, CA – The Echo *
11/04/15 – Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom *
11/07/15 – Dallas, TX – Three Links *
11/08/15 – Norman, OK – The Opolis *
11/09/15 – Omaha, NE – Reverb Lounge *
11/11/15 – Denver, CO – Hi-Dive *
11/12/15 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court *
11/13/15 – Boise, ID – Neurolux *

* = w/ Wild Ones