Music Review: All Saints “Pure Shores”
Album: The Beach Soundtrack/Saints & Sinners
Year: 2000

All Saints (Natalie Appleton, Nicole Appleton, Melanie Blatt, and Shaznay Lewis) have traveled to distant places to find a home in the floating “Pure Shores.”

Opening with producer William Orbit’s faraway beeps and summery guitar which create a blistering waterfront atmosphere. Lewis says she has trekked through desert after desert and scaled the oceans to complete her. She’s getting closer to reaching a real friend. “I’ve crossed the deserts for miles/Swam water for time/Searching places to find/A piece of something to call mine/(I’m coming)/A piece of something to call mine/(I’m coming)/(I’m coming)/Coming closer to you.”

She continues to detail her journey. Her feet were drenched in low shrubs in a vast area of land. She saw paintings and artifacts she didn’t know existed. She will stop walking once she finds a place that fits her. “Went along many moors/Walked through many doors/The place where I wanna be/Is the place I can call mine/(I’m coming)/Is the place I can call mine/(I’m coming)/(I’m coming)/Coming closer to you.”

In the chorus, she sees the beach, full of sand and midnight blue waves and knows she’s home. The crashing of the waves excites her. She’s free from whatever burden she had. “I’m moving/I’m coming/Can you hear, what I hear/It’s calling you my dear/Out of reach/
(Take me to my beach)/I can hear it, calling you/I’m coming not drowning/Swimming closer to you.”

In the second verse, Lewis says it’s the first time she has visited the beach. The tropical surroundings give her a hunger to learn to about each shell. However, she has a fear she may find something which will shatter her newfound idealism. But she’s glad to be in a place where she’s able to be herself. “Never been here before/I’m intrigued, I’m unsure/I’m searching for more/I’ve got something thats all mine/I’ve got something thats all mine.”

At the beach, she can relax and explore. She wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. “Take me somewhere I can breathe/I’ve got so much to see/This is where I want to be/In a place I can call mine/In a place I can call mine.”

The chorus then leads into the bridge. In the bridge, All Saints’ voices are obscured and muffled, as though they are singing underwater. However, it’s mostly a condensed version of the chorus. “Moving, coming/Can you hear what I hear?/(Hear it out of reach)/I hear it calling you/Swimming closer to you.”

In the third verse, Lewis mentions she’s viewed different people and their culture. She’s been to numerous towns. She repeats that she trekked through the desert and swam in the ocean. She’s met people from all walks of life. She’s matured through conversations with locals and struggled to eat and stay at times. She’s closer to the person she aims to be. “Many faces I have seen/Many places I have been/Walked the deserts, swam the shores/(Coming closer to you)/Many faces I have known/Many ways in which I’ve grown/Moving closer on my own/(Coming closer to you.”)

In the impressive second bridge, Orbit adds a fierce drum beat. Lewis says she can feel herself changing and coming into her own. “I move it/I feel it/I’m coming/Not drowning/I move it/I feel it/I’m coming/Not drowning.”

The chorus is repeated three times to close the single.

In the splendid “Pure Shores,” self-realization is compared to emerging from water. The places Lewis visited before were harsh and grueling (desert), messy and dirty (the moor), and unwelcoming and manipulative (the door.) The ocean is inviting and individual in its beauty.