“Mariano Festa aka Pure Songs has reached the third "volume" of songs - in this case, it proposes six songs - and alone, with his guitar and a heartfelt voice a little Damien Rice (see Bright Eyes) in 2016 he joins to the constant flow of acoustic minstrels pointing to our ears.
Generally, we are closer to the West than to Ed Sheeran or James Morrison (Another Story), which would not be as peregrine as comparisons (Soldier); there is also the via Emilia, in the sense that we could feel like a Guccini (better, a Ligabue) who chews English (LLMU).
But, in the end and perhaps, Festa's dream would be to be a more peaceful Cat Stevens (see True Hard Love); even if the final and best result is when the song remains more interrogative, with "open" sounds (Colors, ie the last Fleet Foxes without the orchestra and reduced to Pecknold only).”
— Kathodik
“Six tracks for a total of eighteen minutes represent the third chapter of Mariano Festa's art adventure that has lasted for seven years in Pure Songs.
Acoustic singer-songwriter who draws his hands from American folk tradition, from the West Coast to Iron & Wine, to country notes, to the British mists dear to Nick Drake.
Well done and suggestive, it will certainly be loved by lovers of the genre.”
— Radiocoop
“Behind the moniker Pure Songs hides Mariano Festa who, having reached the finish line of the second test on disc, builds (with only guitar and voice) five simple songs halfway between folk, blues and pop.
Waiting, Waiting opens the disc between sweet voices and soft guitar notes, while Difference Between us continues outlining moments of complete relaxation. It is then the turn of the delicate liveliness of The Air Was Magic, before we move on to the finale, entrusted first to the tenuous and docile A Gift and then to the fresh vitality of Wake Up.
Vol. 2 is a short and subtle work where the songs, all guitar and voice, follow each other without ever tripping. A small piece of peace that lasts less than 20 minutes, if the opportunity arises, listen to it, you will not be disappointed.”
— IYE zine
“Purity is an important word, one of those that are frightening, to be pronounced softly. It is the unspeakable that everyone is looking for: the simplicity of a clear and immediate, unequivocal, absolute feeling. Rare flashes of purity run through our lives and we rely on music to miss it less.
"Pure songs vol. II" tells exactly this, that glow that did not take time to hold back, the search and the wait ("Waiting, waiting") for those deep eyes to look for and the impertinent hair to get lost in. And it does so in the most classic of forms: guitar and voice, nothing else, to which Mariano Festa entrusts subtle but deep melodies, soft and direct at the same time, now extroverted ("The air was magic"), now more intimate (" A gift "), certainly genuine in their inspired immediacy.
Nothing new, therefore, yet it is enough to make an EP the hiding place to seek shelter and comfort, in a rainy evening that sweeps away the illusion of spring. ”
— Rockit
“Pure Songs is the monicker adopted by Mariano Festa, a singer-songwriter from Campania from Avellino, who, after his appreciated debut, reaches Vol.2, the ideal follow-up to the first album.
This is also a short ep (5 pieces for a total of 17 minutes) composed essentially of acoustic folk ballads, only guitar and voice: an essential formula, but which goes straight to the heart, thanks to the remarkable songwriting skills of the good Mariano.
And so, alongside more or less direct references to Nick Drake ("Difference Between Us"), we find the delicate arpeggios of "Waiting Waiting" and "A Gift", as well as the most lively and almost psychedelic atmospheres of pieces such as "The Air Was Magic ”and the bluesy grit of“ Wake Up ”. (...) the abilities shown by Mariano Festa in this, and also in the other disk, gives us some glimpses of excellent hopes for the future, perhaps in an upcoming full-length work.”
— Kd Cobain
“Pure Songs is a musical project for voice and acoustic guitar, and this EP demo contains 6 songs sung in English, on the indie folk genre, which draws completely from the American tradition, in these years it returned to the shields thanks to the work of musicians like Will Oldham, Iron & Wine and Jolie Holland.
The songs of Pure Songs - the name behind which the young Avellino-born musician, Roman by adoption, Mariano Festa - hides from the intimate and expressive arpeggio, to the more articulate folk with nervous pickups; we like the pressing of 'Crack' and the tenderness of 'Orphan'.
The quality of the engraving is fair, the English pronunciation is fair. ”
— Freak Out
“With an Orphan that transposes Pablo Honey's Radiohead and a Not A Simple Girl that reconnects with the New Acoustic Movement of the first I’m Kloot, Pure Songs - aka Mariano Festa - begins with a really interesting disk.
Nothing that goes beyond a sensitive and well-made writing, it is true, but the material contained in the homonymous debut of the Avellino musician (self-production, 6.9) is of the naked and intense ones.
Voice and acoustic guitar, among an arpeggio, some hints to a sui generis psychedelia (So Long So Hard) and plectrum-like melodies à la Mr. Milk. Although in the case of Pure Songs the patron saint Nick Drake is only a presence in the background (Memories).”