The Purrs Reflect on Seattle's Metropolitan Metamorphosis on "Disconnected" (KEXP Video Premiere)

Local Music, KEXP Premiere
03/26/2021
Janice Headley
photo by Ken Lapworth

The stay-at-home order has given people a chance to pause and reflect. On the verge of their 20th anniversary, Seattle band The Purrs were working on demos for a new album, with a projected Fall 2020 release date. Instead, by the second week of quarantine, guitarist Jason Milne began digging through the band's archives, unearthing old live recordings. “We know there is more, but we can’t find it. I thought it would be a good idea and put out a live album and new videos for our 20th anniversary rather than sit on our asses.” 

That concert album — cleverily titled We Thought There’d Be More People Here — will be available to stream and purchase on May 7th. Co-produced by Johnny Sangster, the album captures the energy of the group's '60s-psych-tinged sound, leaving you nostalgic for darkened clubs with their sticky floors and dizzying stage lights. The track list spans the group's two-decade discography, including today's featured track, "Disconnected," which was originally released on their 2007 album The Chemistry That Keeps Us Together

We asked bassist and lead vocalist Jima Antonio if he could remember what inspired the lyrics for "Disconnected", and his reply still resonates in 2021. 

The narrator in this song is pretty self-centered. He thinks he is too busy to care about what other people are feeling or saying. He thinks he’s got lots to do. He also doesn’t seem to have much attachment to his surroundings. He is the perfect example of the absence of empathy he sees and resents. He IS the problem.
 
This song is a rumination on the growing sense of disassociation I have been experiencing living in Seattle. 
 
I usually try to avoid that “back in my day” kind of mentality. However, the increasing lack of empathy from society at large for people who are struggling is really bugging me. I’ve certainly seen it get worse since I moved here 21 years ago. I’m probably guilty of that same mindset.
 
Maybe it is just the growing pains of transitioning from a blue-collar kind of city to a major metropolis. 

 

Watch the band perform the song back in 2006 from The Comet, directed by Sandy Wilson. 

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