Chop Suey Presents: Chris Pureka // Emy Reynolds Band

Chris Pureka has been touring the US for the last 10 years, Europe the last three, performing unadorned, country-inflected folk music at cozy clubs and grand theaters, grassroots festivals and urban block parties.

Pureka’s latest release, Chimera II, is an expression of transition, collecting seven tracks old and new, borrowed and original. Like its predecessor, it’s both a coda and prelude, an assortment of songs that are vital and revealing and yet don’t quite fit within the focus of her full-length albums.

The name refers to the three-headed creature of Greek mythology, part serpent, part lion, part goat. It’s also a scientific term that describes an organism derived from two genetically distinct types of cells—a nod toward Pureka’s background as a research biologist. Both contexts are apt: Chimera II is a grab bag of curiosities.

The two cover songs stand out immediately. “Like a Movie” was penned by friend and occasional touring partner Nicole Reynolds and recorded before Pureka’s departure from Brooklyn to her current residence in Portland, Or. Cover number 2, “Play With Fire” was Pureka's contribution to a Rolling Stones tribute night at the Iron Horse Music Hall a few years ago; she delivers it here as a scathing indictment. “I felt like I had something different to offer,” she says of her choice of covers. “It doesn’t make sense to record a song exactly the same way someone else did.”

Pureka wrote “Old Photographs” as part of a group project inspired by author T Cooper’s memoir Real Man Adventures. “I usually write from my own experience,” she says, “so having a project where I had specific direction was challenging and rewarding: an interesting opportunity to approach songwriting in a different way.” Older composition “Barn Song” was recorded live at the Grey Eagle in Asheville, NC. The other live song, “Broken Clock,” was recorded at the famous Daytrotter Studio in southern Illinois during Pureka’s session there in July 2012.

Available June 25, Chimera II is Pureka’s fifth release on her own Sad Rabbit Records. Soon after she'll be back on the road with her next headlining tour.