It was recently revealed in https://community.metabrainz.org/t/pseudoreleases-how-to-remove-recordings/360642/ that https://musicbrainz.org/doc/Style/Specific_types_of_releases/Pseudo-Releases does not state that recordings have to be used for pseudo-releases. It of course is not possible to create a release (regardless of status) without using recordings; the guideline as it stands does not reflect this.