When I last spoke to Purser last April, we chatted about their newly released single “Zero Sum.” Our conversation, brief though it was, touched on a wide range of topics — everything from hitting rock-bottom to the need to keep indie rock openhearted. Now Purser is back with an EP titled 3X (pronounced “three times,” by the way). Inspired by Jeff Buckley’s dramatic rock arrangements and Joni Mitchell’s immersive lyricism aims for maximum impact with minimal instrumentation.

Your new EP, 3X, is about a family at risk of becoming strangers. What was the inspiration?

I’d been no-contact with my family for almost two years when we recorded 3x, and I wrote all three of these songs during that time.

Lockdown was awful, so I moved back in with my parents for extra support in 2021, which helped for a while. But as I started healing, I realized all that therapy and introspection was strengthening me to critically examine my relationship with my family for the first time. It’s that moment where you realize the call is coming from inside the house.

My eyes flew open to the fact that while I’d been loved and cared for, I’d also been emotionally neglected, dismissed, and bullied. By staying closeted and keeping quiet, I was punishing myself in the name of avoiding punishment. I saw destructive patterns repeating over generations, and I realized no one would protect me from this inheritance except myself.

While my parents were on vacation, I picked up a book my therapist had gently recommended: Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay Gibson. Finishing the prologue was enough to make me pack my bags and leave the house the same day. My friends fed and housed me until I was able to move into my current place. 

Writing these three songs was a way to exercise empathy for both myself and my family while I tried to detangle how we’d reached this point of no-contact.

And the album was recorded live. What was behind this decision? Did recording live pose any challenges? 

In the aftermath of no-contact, I think I was looking for new family structures to replace my biological one. Playing these songs as a three-person huddle felt like building a new family, especially when you consider the connectedness live recording requires.

We ended up feeling confident enough to record the whole EP live without a click track to guide the tempo, but that was the scariest part. I definitely felt the added pressure not to fuck up a take – if I did, we’d have to start again from the top. But we ended up getting each song in 3-4 takes because Simon Knudtson (drums) and Zach Goforth (bass) are pros. It was so fast.

You’ve mentioned that it was recorded down the street from your childhood home. How far down the street—both physically and psychologically, if that makes sense? 

My parents live a ten-minute drive away from where we made this EP. When I was a kid I would wait to sing my original songs when no one was home; recording 3x in Franklin while being no-contact felt like the grown-up version of that.

I definitely braced myself to return to that childhood feeling of shame and paranoia that my family might overhear my unfiltered thoughts, but I was finally becoming an adult who didn’t have to live by that anymore.

And did you record at a venue or a studio?

We recorded at my friend Mark Hill’s studio, lovingly nicknamed “The Chapel.” He was an extraordinary host, making sure we had everything we needed to be able to solely focus on the music. The local nonprofit Music Neighbors also joined us to film the entire session, so each of the songs has accompanying videos where you can watch the performances heard on the EP in real time.

Both Mark Hill and Music Neighbors donated their equipment, time, and expertise for this project. I’m still humbled by the generosity that rose up to meet me everywhere during that extremely raw chapter of my life.

I’m reading your press release and noticing certain words like “compassionate” and “patiently.” Why are these traits essential to the kind of music you’re making?

I’m very sensitive to the fact that every song I write only represents my side of whatever story I’m telling, and that no story is ever truly finished. Compassion and patience are ways of holding the door open for change. My relationship with my family is still evolving, so I didn’t want to just hop on the mic and burn all my bridges, but I also needed to tell the truth. It’s like, “I love you, you hurt me, and I think if I look at you long and lovingly enough I might be able to understand why.”

You’ve also described a “terrifying level of honesty” in your music. Why is honesty both terrifying and hard to come by? 

Honesty is terrifying because it doesn’t allow you to rest. You can’t rest in dissatisfaction, you can’t rest in relationships where you’re being disrespected. And the second you’re honest about how you feel, you risk losing the people you love who can’t give you what you need. Honesty is hard work, and for me, it’s easier to be honest in music than it is in everyday life.

You’ve cited Jeff Buckley and Joni Mitchell as inspirations. What draws you to their music?

The drama. In so many of their songs, the entire arrangement bends the knee to the marriage of lyric and melody, and I think that’s what elevates their music to a kind of bardic storytelling.

How can we hear their influence in your music? 

I love theatrical, dynamic arrangements that always defer to the lead vocal and take their emotional cues from the lyrics. I often look to Joni and Jeff as references for how to achieve that without sounding too much like a Broadway musical lol

What are your hopes for 3X?

I hope this collection of songs can do for someone else what that book by Lindsay Gibson did for me: offer much-needed clarity and companionship to anyone looking for answers. If it can give someone a name for that strange and persistent loneliness I also felt as a kid, that will be an enormous blessing.

What’s next for you?

We’re mixing the next EP as we speak! It’s an expansion of the world of “Zero Sum,” and it’s my favorite music I’ve ever made. We’ll give 3x its well-deserved breathing room first, so it’ll be a few more months before anyone hears this next one.