It’s never not surprising when artists create adventurous, instrumental electronic music that breaks through to a wider audience. In an era of formulaic, innocuous mega-streamers, challenging sounds snaring major mindshare is rare and precious. Recently, we’ve seen that phenomenon with Oneohtrix Point Never, Mica Levi, and Robert A.A. Lowe scoring films funded by millionaires. On a slightly smaller scale, we’re witnessing this scenario play out with Purelink, a NYC-via-Chicago trio who have risen to notoriety with critically acclaimed, deeply blissful albums Signs (2023) and Faith (2025) for the tiny indie label Peak Oil. by Dave Segal It’s never not surprising when artists create adventurous, instrumental electronic music that breaks through to a wider audience. In an era of formulaic, innocuous mega-streamers, challenging sounds snaring major mindshare is rare and precious. Recently, we’ve seen that phenomenon with Oneohtrix Point Never, Mica Levi, and Robert A.A. Lowe scoring films funded by millionaires. On a slightly smaller scale, we’re witnessing this scenario play out with Purelink, a NYC-via-Chicago trio who have risen to notoriety with critically acclaimed, deeply blissful albums Signs (2023) and Faith (2025) for the tiny indie label Peak Oil. Few ambient-dub outfits with nary a vocal hook in earshot (save for guest Loraine James’s understated one on “Rookie”), let alone big budgets, end up notching six-figure streams and earning opening slots for popular artists such as Tirzah and Astrid Sonne. Sure looks like Purelink are the latest anointed ones. Certainly, there are dozens of musicians working in Purelink’s chill zone. Yet the media and the listening public have bestowed more love and attention than most on the peace-inducing work of Tommy Paslaski, Akeem Asani, and Ben Paulson. Rightfully so, although unexpected, given that Signs abounds with Loscil-like ambient drifts and gentle, undanceable beats to which your infant can nap. Standout cut “4k Murmurs” harks back to the amniotic, beatific nature of Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works 85–92. It’s the kind of stuff that KEXP DJ Alex Ruder plays on the early Sunday morning show Pacific Notions but doesn’t air during prime-time hours. Purelink’s latest album, Faith, offers profound calm and balm in sonic form. The sound’s super minimal, but its emotional support system is maximal. An aquatic placidity predominates, although some beats skitter on the down-low. On the etiolated, acoustic-guitar-bolstered “First Iota,” poet Angelina Nonaj intones, “Not everything beautiful has to be real,” and it sounds like a band ethos. “Circle of Dust” tranquilly ripples with submerged, Chain Reaction–esque rhythms amid gorgeous, pastel synth vapor; it’s dub techno as evanescent and consoling as the memory of a beautiful dream. On 2022’s Purelink EP, tropical-paradise ambience quivers with understated hand percussion, making you feel as if you’re on the choicest SSRIs. “Fine Pink Mist (Low Flung Version)” is Balearic, sundown-shiver gold, while “Dozen Sunbeams (Nice Girl Version)” is house music distilled to an unfathomable blissfulness. That three cats from polar-vortex-suffering Chicago created this is somewhat miraculous. That same year’s Puredub peddles ambient dub honed to a wisp. “Cricket Dub” is the greatest track that the Orb never recorded; “Depression Dub” is chillout-room Meat Beat Manifesto. Purelink have moved away from this style, but let’s hope not forever. Similarly, the atmospheric, hall-of-mirrors drum and bass of 2021’s “Head on a Swivel” appears to have been abandoned, but maybe only temporarily. Purelink’s ascent makes one wonder: When’s the last time we had a prominent (non-EDM) electronic-music group with three members? The setup’s unusual, so I’m wondering how Purelink manage to realize their ideas in any given track, given how minimalist they are. “To Rococo Rot is the group we often cite as the prominent electronic trio,” Asani says in an email interview conducted with all members. “And not solely electronic, but Saint Etienne is another three-piece I come back to, as well. “Each track comes about in its own unique way—we all have our hands on each part and take turns shaping each sound to make sure it fits. I am a drummer, so I tend to focus on drums, but that doesn’t mean I’m the only one making drum parts. When we start a new jam session, everyone is welcome to bring any ideas to the table and we all have to agree on it to stay in the final version.” Listening to Purelink, you can imagine massage therapists using it to relax clients. But they don’t think of their music in functional terms. “We often are motivated by creating sounds that conjure up some sort of feeling or emotion that sticks with us beyond the recording session,” Paulson says. “The proud feeling of pulling off a new writing or production technique is also infectious, allowing you to express even more. “While I understand why it may be helpful for others, it feels quite trivial to preconceive what the music’s purpose is; in the end it’s up to the listener to give their own personal meaning. Though I do believe music can have therapeutic qualities, and if people get that from our music, that’s great. But I’m not really thinking about the listener when creating. Maybe after it’s released I would, but it doesn’t help me make better music.” The aforementioned Chain Reaction–styled “Doppler-effected metallic ripple as rhythmic accent” thing was revelatory for Purelink. “I really loved the concept of doing so much with so little—working within an inspiring palette of sounds and creating environments that capture the imagination,” Paslaski says. “Having experienced those tracks like 20 years after they came out, I definitely benefited from naïveté and a lot of excitement. It got me thinking about what could be possible and how we could blend other elements of music that we love into that type of electronic context.” For Purelink’s Seattle show, they’ll likely focus on tracks from Signs and Faith. Paulson says, “We also will include songs that are still being developed. We tend to use dub-style mixing techniques to blend stems together, while leaving room for some improvisations. Often taking the tracks our listeners may know into something hopefully new and exciting.” It’s interesting that Purelink’s profile has risen significantly after their music started to lean more into ambience and de-emphasize rhythm. Perhaps we’re in a golden age for ambient music, due in part to the ultra-stressful state of the world and the need for relaxing sounds. Paulson’s not really buying that theory. “It’s tough to get a clear picture why anyone listens to anything, lol. I think we all feel proud of the last two records and their minor successes. We’ve been more and more motivated to create something that synthesizes different kinds of music, so maybe there’s something to connecting ideas from different communities? There’s plenty of great music being made all along the spectrum of sound and genre that inspires us every day.”  Purelink perform February 10 at Substation with ‘nohup’ and Hünter. ...read more read less