Musical compositions you’ll listen to a thousand times: each of these tracks. Tetragram demonstrates, with the artistic force of musical avant-garde, why it remains an unmissable reference in today’s scene.
The talented Slovenian artist Simon Šerc, soul and mastermind behind PureH, presented his new album Tetragram at the end of December 2024. In its tracks, the music-loving readers of Lux Atenea will find the kind of virtuosity in musical composition that radiates conceptual avant-garde. Released through his own record label, Pharmafabrik Recordings, in digital format and a beautiful digipak CD edition, both are available through the label’s webstore and its official Bandcamp page.
The album Tetragram is adorned with an attractive cover photograph by Martina Testen and Simon Šerc himself, reflecting a sublime beauty spiritually connected to the universal. Since the early 1990s, speaking of PureH is to speak of the creative instinct of a musical pioneer in the search for new conceptual frontiers—always projecting into his works a forward-looking vision that keeps Simon Šerc distinguished in this scene, no matter how many years pass.
On his new album Tetragram, he was able to count on the artistic collaboration of Vili Žigon (drums on the track Slumber) and Martina Testen for field recordings made in Slovenia and Italy. This discographic edition also immortalizes the live interpretation of the tracks Paracusia, Tasukete, and Tetragram. After a detailed technical mastering process carried out by Alexandr Vatagin and Simon Šerc, each of the seven compositions that form the spine of this album sounds spectacular during playback. This release stands out as one of the most conceptually relevant in the avant-garde ambient scene of 2024.
Without further delay, we begin listening to this sonic journey by entering the musical universe of PureH with the first track, Paracusia—a haze of languidness where bucolic field recordings contrast with a shadowy sound environment rich in dark nuances. With the entry of experimental musical layers close to dark ambient, one can even perceive industrial sound elements that persist energetically in the background, enhancing the sense of sensory isolation from the external. This industrial conceptual factor intensifies with the appearance of sharp and vibrant sequences that will approach the music-loving reader of Lux Atenea during playback, enveloping them with their intense register. When this aggressive musical wave passes, a vibrant echo in a low tone will remain in the background, gradually fading as we hear the sound of waves crashing on the shore.
With the artistic aftertaste of the experimental still lingering in the mind, the track Slumber will emerge in a melodic key, maintaining the sound of waves at its start. This dark, low-pitched sound layer is then elevated by the addition of more crystalline frequencies, paving the way for an exquisite noir jazz-style drum performance by Vili Žigon. The sound atmosphere of Slumber will intoxicate you both through its energetic, moon-like momentum and its possessive mental fogs that make you abandon the waking state by stimulating your imagination—everything interrupted by a bucolic sonic entrance like a sunrise. Slumber is a true delicacy that will delight music lovers seeking artistic charm in music.
In the next track, Tasukete, the entire sound structure evolves toward a luxurious ambient style of sophisticated structure, with dimensional twists leading into the psychedelic. The entry of a vibrant bass layer only enhances the ambient magic of this soundscape, hinting at a rupture, an event, an action that will change everything—as it soon does. Acquiring an eclectic conceptual dimension where experimental elements mix with ambient as the backdrop and urban neojazz, the male and female vocal touches in Japanese create essential chiaroscuro contrasts that give the music strong contrast and texture.
With no silence between tracks, Metatron emerges with a sound aura in which unease and magnificence are beautifully recreated in an evanescent musical spiral. Much more linear in its sonic definition compared to the previous three tracks, Metatron seeks to lead us to that hieratic state in which human existence feels diminished before the supernatural. Here, the only thing connecting us to this world is the incessant sound of waves—creating an overall composition clearly directed toward the mystical. That’s why it radiates such mental calm, offering a harmonious transition into the next track, Keif.
Falling within the ambient genre (formerly sometimes labeled as new age), Keif conveys a deep sense of inner peace, its light diffused in the surrounding environment. Its prolonged sonic cycles stretch out in time to guide the listener toward tranquility, away from the tormented human side. The structure is later completely transformed with accelerated musical layers that, despite their provocative experimental thrust, still retain an ambient base.
Later, the track Tetragram continues to hold onto that spiritual aura, but from a mystical perspective where the magical becomes essential due to its esoteric essence. Slow, calm, and connected to Mother Nature, Tetragram unfolds with the inevitability of fate, incorporating a magical element sonically recreated through melodic keyboards. While linearity forms the base of its musical structure, its vibrant sonic chromaticism strengthens it, radiating energy and reflecting all that is tied to the eternal, to the divine. The final part of this sublime composition… impressive! Without a doubt, yet another demonstration of the boundless creative talent of Slovenian artist Simon Šerc.
With the final track Polynya closing this magnificent album, the threatening and the dark will dominate this sublime sonic setting. With a haunting tempo, its musical structure incorporates the fragility of something crystalline subjected to external forces—and that delicate line will remain as the sinister gradually takes over. A darkness that does not block out the light, but distorts and filters it until it forms a breath-stopping atmosphere.
Tetragram—PureH demonstrating, with the artistic force of musical avant-garde, why it continues to be an unmissable reference in this scene in today’s times.
Enjoy it!