Album Review: Quiet Light- Pure Hearts

Quiet Light is a tour de force; Houston native Riya Mahesh has not only produced five albums and two EPs in three years but has done so while being a full-time medical student. She recently came to indie fame from her 2023 folktronica album, Blue Angel Sparkling Silver, hot on the silver heels of her other 2023 album, Fourth of July. She’s already opened for Superfan, Hovvdy, and Luna Li, and has managed to offer us her new project just three months after her fourth album.

Her latest work, Pure Hearts, is more ambient than her previous compilations: as if Mahesh is truly leaning into the Quiet of Quiet Light. The record reads as a meditation on love and devotion, begging the question: what does it mean to be pure of heart?

Highlighted Tracks:

"Because I was in Love"

If the album’s title hasn’t set the tone already, this track makes it clear. It opens with a 417Hz healing frequency, removing our negative energy and preparing us for the purity of love. The synths mimic the weightlessness of that feeling: immaterial and almost unreal until a lone cello enters. The strings tether the incorporeal soundscape to something tangible: something human. 

"Aurora"

In stark contrast to “Because I Was in Love”, “Aurora” starts grounded. This is Quiet Light crystallized: wispy vocals held together by steady, pulsing drums. The track is icy but never brittle; Skrillex-esque synths clash against crystalline bells, creating a tension that’s both ominous and enchanting. 

"Bronco"

At the album’s midpoint, this is the first track to open with Mahesh’s vocals—but they’re still submerged in the background, almost instrumental. Quiet Light layers chopped vocal loops in a round-like structure, emphasizing the album’s ambient nature. It’s hypnotic and fluid, yet, solid.

"Taste Like Poison"

This song is it. If you take one thing from this review, let it be this: listen to “Tastes Like Poison”. While the album as a whole leans into softness, this track sharpens Mahesh’s sonic identity. Syncopated drums clash with wispy synths, creating a delicate yet forceful contrast. The refrain: “You taste like / Poison / Like poison / Like love” feels both worshipful and dangerous. There is an almost religious reverence in her tonality. Mahesh does not fear exploring the dark side of “pure” love; she embraces all the feelings that it entails. It’s not a new concept, but in Mahesh’s hands, it becomes something wholly mesmerizing.

The entire album is 24 minutes long, but it resonates for longer. Quiet Light embraces both the sterling and the grit: purity is not as simple as it seems. Check out her work on streaming, or see her live in Brooklyn on 02/21 and Antwerp on 05/29.

Recommended if you like:

untitled (halo), George Clanton, Linda Perhacs

Recommended Tracks:

Everytime, Bronco, Taste Like Poison

FCC:

Clean

-DJ matt2matt AKA Matthew Genchev