Experimental duo Allegories are leaning further into uncertainty with their latest single, “Pure Comedy,” an atmospheric and emotionally unpredictable track that constantly shifts between opposing moods.
Created by Adam Bentley and Jordan Mitchell, the new single moves through dream pop, indie rock and electronic textures without fully belonging to any one of them. One moment feels intimate and almost weightless, while the next introduces sharper and more aggressive energy, creating a song that seems deliberately unwilling to stay in one place.
“Pure Comedy” arrives as another preview of Allegories’ forthcoming album, By Accident, On Purpose, due October 16, 2026. In many ways, the single captures the restless spirit of the album, particularly its fascination with uncertainty, experimentation and the tension between different musical ideas.
The song itself has been evolving for years. Rather than treating each version as something to be discarded when the direction changed, Allegories allowed pieces of those earlier versions to remain. Different stages of the recording process can therefore be heard within the finished track, giving “Pure Comedy” a layered quality that reflects its unusually long creative journey.
Adam Bentley describes the song as the one that most clearly represents the forthcoming album, pointing to the different iterations that remain embedded in the final recording. That approach gives the track a constantly changing sonic identity, with sounds appearing, disappearing and returning as the arrangement searches for its own balance.
Emotionally, “Pure Comedy” is just as restless. The song explores the conflict between optimism and pessimism, particularly the struggle to hold onto hope while questioning whether the effort to create something better is actually worthwhile.
The narrator appears caught between wanting to turn anger into something productive and wondering whether any of it matters. Instead of providing a neat resolution, the song leaves those questions hanging, allowing the uncertainty itself to become part of the experience.
That idea is reflected in the title. Is the struggle toward something better meaningful, or is the entire attempt simply absurd? Allegories do not provide an easy answer. Instead, “Pure Comedy” sits comfortably in that uncomfortable space between hope and resignation.
The music reinforces the uncertainty. Dreamy passages give way to more physical indie-rock moments, while electronic elements and pop sensibilities continually collide. The vocals follow the same emotional journey, moving through intimate and expressive passages before becoming increasingly intense as the pressure builds.
That unpredictable approach is also central to the making of By Accident, On Purpose. The album began with each song being written on a ukulele, an instrument chosen almost as a challenge because of its distance from the electronic music that had previously shaped Allegories’ work.
Those simple foundations were then transformed through Jordan Mitchell’s arrangements, with Adam Bentley eventually writing another song over the developing structures. The two versions, including their vocals, melodies and arrangements, were subsequently brought together to create something entirely new.
As the process developed, guitars, live drums and bass gradually returned to the sound. Shoegaze textures also emerged, while the duo’s history in indie rock band The Rest began to make itself felt within the electronic experimentation.
That willingness to follow an idea wherever it leads has been part of Allegories’ identity from the beginning. Their debut album, Surreal Auteur, originally grew from a commission for a noise tape before the duo’s improvisations naturally began moving toward pop structures. The record drew inspiration from 1960s pop, Motown and The Beach Boys.
Their follow-up, Endless, moved in another direction, drawing from forward-thinking electronic musicians and the club environment. House music became an important foundation, although the duo continued to leave room for abstraction and experimentation.
“Pure Comedy” now brings those different instincts into the same space. It is dreamy but confrontational, melodic but unpredictable, and emotionally vulnerable while maintaining an underlying sense of humour and absurdity.
With By Accident, On Purpose arriving in October, Allegories are giving listeners another glimpse into a record built around reconstruction, experimentation and the freedom to let songs change along the way. “Pure Comedy” may never settle on one clear answer, but that appears to be exactly the point.
Sometimes hope survives. Sometimes frustration takes over. And sometimes the only way to make sense of the whole thing is to embrace the contradiction and keep moving.
