Puressence have had more than their share of diehard fans. Those with the same life-and-death commitment shown to bands like The Smiths. But when the fan is a luminous American folk-rock legend, with over 50 years in the business of music, that's something else. Step forward Judy Collins. And what exactly seduced such a venerated goddess? To begin with, frontman James Mudriczki.
"Where did he learn to sing like that?" she wonders. "His voice is an instrument of such clarity and purity and flexibility, it just does you in. He's got a range that just goes forever. And I love that Manchester sound! They're such a moving experience."
"The biggest compliment we can have is that our songs move people," James underlines the band's game plan. "If you don't strive for that emotional sweet spot, then you should give up."
Judy Collins likes it so much, she's singing on two tracks on the new Puressence album 'Solid State Recital: 'When Your Eyes Close' - the band's new single and the best bet for a hit single since their breakthrough Top 40 hit 'This Feeling' - and the album's seven-minute intro 'Swathes Of Sea Made Stone'. Both emotion-soaked beauties, they benefit from featuring Collins pure vocal dovetailing with Mudriczki's extraordinary and distinctive vibrato.
Of all the classic guitar bands, Manchester's Puressence have always been about the emotion. Rollercoaster emotion, from the fragile to the euphoric. For years, they've been slaying fans with their songs, the best of which were included on their 2009 compilation 'Sharpen Up The Knives', which drew on the band's Island Records years between 1996 and 2002.
