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PureH — Tetragram
(Pharmafabrik PFCD042, 2025, CD / DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-05-09

Tetragram Cover art

In its current form, PureH is the solo project of Slovenian sound and visual artist Simon Šerc, a potent mix of electronica, ambient and industrial sounds, and field recordings. At one time it was a band, way back in the early 90s, with a drummer, guitarist, and bassist, but now it’s Šerc alone — although there may be others involved in live presentations. Šerc is also the main mover behind several other projects which can be found on the PureH website; Tetragram is only the fifth PureH album in all those years. The seven tracks at hand all flow together seamlessly, although they do change quite a bit from one piece to the next. Aside from some field recordings of voices on some of the pieces, everything on Tetragram is instrumental and very electronic based, with some of the pieces using electronic percussion and low-end pulses, the sounds — presumably produced mainly with synths — stretch and shimmer into ambient minimalist formations, often with mysterious vestiges of melody interwoven as the piece may require. The title track is certainly the album’s standout at slightly over twelve minutes, imbued with mysterious sonic artifacts and some of those aforementioned voices and field recordings of water splashing against rocks on the shore as it slowly creeps into the closing track “Polynya,” where the electronic whirring hints at something one might hear on a factory floor in the middle of the night with all the lights out, including some strange footstep-like sounds amid the darkness. Opener “Paracusia” begins with the sound of chirping crickets while a groaning low-end cloud of sound slowly consumes the piece while shaky avant-electronic artifacts whistle over a very uneven soundscape, again sounding much like electric power tools in a woodshop. “Slumber” calls forth the sound of splashing water while a dark melodic organ backdrop overcomes the listener, eventually giving way to the familiar sound of a drum roll pattern. With dreamy shards of melodic swells washing over the listener, “Keif” builds slowly and steadily until deep bass pulses percolate to the surface, then everything subsides into a mysterious chaos. This is definitely one album that won’t put you to sleep, and might even give you nightmares if you try.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): PureH

More info
http://pharmafabrik.bandcamp.com/album/tetragram

 

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