Pure – Low

Saved to disk between 98-00.
Released on CD in 2000 by Staalplaat in their material series.
Cat No 149

Review from Vital Weekly 283: Printed on Coil’s brilliant “Constant shallowness leads to evil”-cd is a warning against driving vehicle or operating Machinery, while listening to the album, because of the monotonous expression that might cause drowsiness. The same warning could similarly be useful to this ninth release in Staalplaat’s “Material Series” entitled “Low” and created by sound artist Pure. Listening to the album is an absolutely thrilling journey through landscapes of metallic drones that seems to drift out of the speakers in endless streams. The sounds are minimalist to the extremes creating a hypnotic atmosphere that under intense listening conditions makes the listener end up in a trance like state. Thus making you drowsy in the most positive sense of the word. Minimalist drones, yet still containing a sufficiently wide spectrum of sound-colors, to make the album seem unfathomable when it comes to musical explorations on repetitive listening. Pure creates ambient-drones sounding like a successful meeting between the morbid expressions of Daniel Menche and the gloomy atmosphere that made Biosphere’s “Substrata”-album such an amazing experience. Unnecessary to say, “Low” is essential to listeners of experimental ambient!)

Review taken from incursion.org: A recent addition to Staalplaat’s very fine Material series, this one makes history by being the first that is a full-length. A definite departure for a series that has been hailed for the brevity of each release up to now. Where contributions by Radboud Mens or Massimo took advantage of the 20-minute medium by punctuating their releases with staccato noises and quick cuts, Pure has gone the opposite direction here by treating us to extended sections of metallic drone work. The four pieces occupy the higher end of the frequency spectrum, and so punctuate the air with undeniable precision and tenacity. The pieces don’t necessarily ‘evolve’, as is the case with other recordings in this genre; they permeate and never stray too far from their course. A seemingly minimal layering of buzz, fuzz and drone each play off one another to great effect. Sometimes one layer is manipulated while the others remain constant, and this is what gives the disc its permeable edge. I am left with a feeling of master manipulation on the part of Pure, who have designed this disc to linger long after its play time has concluded. An extremely well produced disc, this is one that should not be overlooked. [Vils M DiSanto]