The growth of Pure X from writing the comedown record of my adult life in Pleasure to coming down even further to those philosophical naggings is best displayed on "Thousand Year Old Child". Pleasure was about the vibe one needs to step off the spaceship and center one's sense of gravity after the magnitude subsides. "Thousand Year Old Child", off sophomore record Crawling Up The Stairs", arrives at the sobering middle-of-the-week conclusion of "What am I doing with my life?" It's the type of question you don't ask on the comedown, but pricks your mind unexpectedly on a Wednesday.
Pure X, still relatively young, asks the question much like most disillusioned folks in their late 20s pose it – hyperbolic and defeatist. The video "Thousand Year Old Child" almost asks a different question. What does an actual Thousand Year Old Child look like? What would a day in the life of a Thousand Year Old Child entail? We never can tell if this ancient child, played by Bob Olson, asked the same question Pure X presents or if he merely sings without consideration on his way to transforming into a weekend lounge singer. It leaves us to wonder – do we trouble ourselves with the ultimate question right now? Or do we let it trouble us never and let it resonate without consequence on the FM radio?
Pure X's Crawling Up The Stairs is out now on Acephale.
