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Puressences first album, it took a little while coming as singles such as petrol skin, Siamese and offshore (released on 2damnloud
record label) eventually resulted in Puressence their debut album released in 96 which in my humble opinion was unjustifiably
slated at the time of its release.
I'm now a proud owner of all songs puressence have ever released except petrol
skin and I have discovered the rewards of one of the finest most moving voices I have ever heard through listening to their
music. This album is often in the large shadow of their more better known album Only forever which although is extremely emotional
and packed full of heart wrenching songs, their debut album release offers something different, something which paces up and
down the darker regions of your soul which is frighteningly too close to home and makes other bands of today seem emotionally
stunted.
The album as a whole reflects a story of desperation but at the same time intense retaliation. At the
beginning it is the echoing base and pulsing drum beats that set the tone and rhythm for the rest of the album, the drums
a heart beat to the emotions James sings of in the opening track Near Distance.
The link between their opening
track and second track I suppose (first single for island records) is so seamless its a trail of haunting deep thought before
the stand out track Mr Brown hits you from chord one with the most spine chilling intros I have ever heard. From this track
onwards there is no where to go but deeper into your soul as the rest of the album craves to be allowed to tug at your heart
strings, allow it, and you will see life in a different lightness...a darkness, but dont worry, the most angelic voice of
the 1990s will keep your soul full of intensity with songs such as India and Fire and like James describes in the later I
find it hard to explain.
The following track traffic jam in memory lane although giving us a more catchy significance
to the album being one of its more popular singles also gives us a weird intensity before the strangely unique beats and rhythm
of casting lazy shadows that begs for your attention.
Youre only trying to twist my arm gives us an angry aggravated
first two and a half minutes before chilling in between softer drum beats and light base with the strangely apt line which
sums up the album in both its meaning and feeling its the cold that keeps me warm.
The penultimate track (Every
house on every street) gives us an upsetting insight which trundles along a rough lonely path of a private live that saves
up the tension before resulting in the emotionally explosive release of India that punches you hard into the empty hole of
lost desperation we all feel at some point in our lives.
The album as a whole is dissected by genius with echoing
bass and guitars that leave scars in your musical conscience forever. There is a unique energy and intense feeling that can
only be heard and not described, a band that stand alone in their beauty, quite simply this album represented a phenomena
called Puressence and is another precious jewel inside the case of great Manchester bands.
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