Spotlight: Purity of Heart by Krill

Purity of heart

Is to will one thing

Today I will

Take a walk

(x5)

Five times in a row. The song begins with the same mantra, repeated on and on and on and on and on. And yet, no words were wasted. There’s power in repetition. Ask Søren Kierkegaard and Gertrude Stein, they’ll show you. The soul follows repetition’s lead. Whether that’s standing before god unaccompanied by ritual, or willing yourself into worldly existence, important things aren’t meant to be said only once. In the same vein, “Purity of Heart” by Krill is an endless listen. A cyclical lesson in becoming human, one incantation at a time.

People who’ve suffered through a bout of depression can attest: seemingly trivial tasks like taking a walk can take every ounce of willpower. Getting out of bed. Doing the dishes. Taking a shower. Tasks that, when done in due time, keep us in the world. They hold our place. Like leaving the coaster on the lip of your pint glass while you go out for a smoke. They show the world that someone’s there.

The titular mantra is the mind willing the body forward, forcing those tiny monumental steps to be taken. Driving this point home: don’t stand still! Don’t let the timeline pass you by! But Krill aren’t compelling us to stand before god, like Kierkegaard originally intended. Rather, they’re compelling us to stand before ourselves. To become ourselves. After the introductory mantra ends, singer/bassist Jonah Furman sings:

Twig says to me, “I’m just a tree”

Grass says, “me too,” I say, “No you,

you’re just a grass,” Grass says “No, I

could be a tree, if just I tried”

I say “no shame in being a grass”

Twig says, “I’m trying to be that”

I say “No Twig, you just be you”

Grass and Twig both say together

“No, you”

The revelatory lines are sung hoarse, half screamed, as the guitar hammers around them. True to the song’s message, they don’t lose their punch with repeated listens. A never ending spring of self-rejuvenation, and it isn’t over yet. Furman’s not done. He ventures on:

You ever tried to just think one thought?

To think it all straight, think it a lot

Think it all through, see where you get

And when you arrive, think it again

To will one thing straight

To will one thing true

To will to be someone who isn’t not-you

To love yourself enough, to love someone else

To fall through the hole, you tore in yourself

This beautiful little tune is in rarefied air: it lives in those magical moments where you consciously feel your identity taking shape. Forged from the odds and ends – ideas, anecdotes, quotes, experiences – that you acquire over the years without batting an eye. And yet someday, sometime, they melt together and become you.

As the dust of the climax settles and the song wanes, the exact same solo guitar ostinato from the beginning returns. The cycle repeats. When played on a continuous loop, you can hardly tell that it started over. Purity of heart is to will one thing. Five times in a row.

Sources: album art, lyrics, Gertrude Stein reference, Kierkegaard reference