Mon., July 08, Chris Pureka

I try my best to avoid the perpetual music-was-better-back-when-I-was-a-teenager conversation (it's only ever a valid point to you and your peers), but it's hard to listen to Chris Pureka and not be reminded of the female singer-songwriters—Fiona Apple, Tori Amos, Ani DiFranco—that were prominent a decade before Pureka was touring the country, and how that depth of feel they cultivated seems to have dissipated somewhat among the singer-songwriters that presently abound. Not so with Pureka, who embodies the same listen-here gravitas with a subtle, hushed urgency. Her latest album, Chimera II, dropped on June 25. 2708 J Street, www.chrispureka.com.