Struggling with the thought: "Oh my God, how will I present this to the label tomorrow?", a music professor reflects on the underlying musical concepts behind All Saints' hit song, "Pure Shores".
Celebrating 25 Years of Dream-Pop Magic: All Saints' 'Pure Shores'
The year 2025 marks a quarter-century since All Saints released their iconic '00s hit, 'Pure Shores.' Let's delve into what makes this track an enduring masterpiece of dream-pop music.
Composed by Shaznay Lewis and produced by William Orbit, 'Pure Shores' was initially created for the soundtrack of the 2000 Leonardo DiCaprio film, The Beach. The song also found a place on All Saints' second album, Saints & Sinners. Although it didn't resonate as powerfully in the U.S., it was a massive hit across Europe and Australia.
Orbit crafted the instrumental track first, and Lewis crafted the vocals on top, inspired by a fantastic underwater scene from the movie involving DiCaprio and Virginie Ledoyen. Lewis sings only on the bridge, while Melanie Blatt takes charge of the lead vocals elsewhere, with backing vocals provided by the sisters Natalie and Nicole Appleton.
The song's simple structure is built around a four-bar chord loop in C# Mixolydian mode, consisting of C#, D#m, B, and F#. This combination of chords is common in rock and pop, but the unique ordering sets 'Pure Shores' apart. The tune's primary interest lies not in the notes but in the rhythms and sounds, with dreamy vocals soaring above the gently abstract electronic textures.
One of the standout production touches is the organ riff, which starts in the first second of the intro and continues throughout most of the track. To provide a better understanding of how it works, the organ and "guitar" parts in the intro have been reconstructed in Ableton Live.
A master of creating atmospheric soundscapes, William Orbit's production techniques in 'Pure Shores' showcase the same dreamy aesthetics found in his work on Madonna's Ray of Light album from 1998. His approach involves a blend of electronic and organic elements, the strategic use of filters and effects, and the painstaking layering of sounds to build a dense, evolving texture.
Orbit has been open about his production methods, revealing that he often marks up the keys with wax pencils, uses sequencers selectively, and records synth and sampler outputs to tape to create a desirable sonic grunginess. Working on Madonna's Ray of Light, Orbit sequenced the album on an Atari ST using early Cubase software. By the time he worked with All Saints, he had switched to Pro Tools.
While information on Orbit's production for All Saints is scarce, it's likely that he employed a combination of the methods and gear he used on Ray of Light. Orbit himself admits that the laborious process of creating 'Pure Shores' led him to believe that it was inferior, later confessing that he'd lost sight of the track's potential during production. Nonetheless, 'Pure Shores' stands as a testament to Orbit and Lewis's creativity and is celebrated as a shining example of dream-pop music 25 years later.
- The celebrity connection to 'Pure Shores' comes from its creation for the soundtrack of the 2000 Leonardo DiCaprio film, The Beach.
- The enduring popularity of 'Pure Shores' in the realm of dream-pop music is a testament to the creative collaboration between celebrities, like Lewis and DiCaprio, and music producers, such as Orbit.
