"Pure Shores" received acclaim from music critics. Nigel Packer from BBC Music highlighted the song from "Saints & Sinners". John Walshe from "Hot Press" commented that the track "goes some way towards justifying the fact that it is the biggest selling single so far this year". Simon Evans writing in the "Birmingham Post" described the song as a "beautiful slice of haunting, hypnotic pop". Russell Bailler from "The New Zealand Herald" highlighted the song along with "Black Coffee" and "Surrender", saying it is "a great single which is also the best thing here the album". Calling it "still a winner", "The Sunday People"s Sean O'Brien gave "Pure Shores" a rating of eight out of ten. A "Western Mail" reviewer viewed "Pure Shores" and "Black Coffee" as "equally tremendous", Caroline Sullivan from "The Guardian" said All Saints "lend radiance to [Orbit's] twinkling fairy lights". Lindsay Baker from the same newspaper deemed it "Saints & Sinners" "mellow, infectious" track. In a more negative review, Jim Wirth of "NME" compared the song to Madonna's album "Ray of Light", commenting it "sounds so close to Madonna that it's almost indistinguishable".