I remember the first things that I reviewed for Freq were the Medical Records re-issues of the first two Pram albums, long out of print and absolutely essential. Whilst undertaking that I figured that it was unlikely we would ever see another new Pram album, considering Rosie Cuckston‘s move to academia and loss of musical impetus. So eleven years after The Moving Frontier was released, I was very pleasantly surprised to hear that Domino were putting out another LP.
Although the band were definitely a democracy, you always had the feeling that Rosie led the way, being the majority vocalist and lyricist, and I was a little concerned at how they would cope reduced to a four-piece. I have to say, any fears I had were totally unfounded and if anything, Rosie’s absence has allowed the band to widen their scope and embrace even more esoteric stylings. Although Sam Owen appears to have taken over vocal duties, they only appear on five of the twelve tracks, and only one of those is constructed around the vocals, leaving all the other tracks to meander and fill spaces as they see fit.
The opener “Shimmer And Disappear” is unmistakably Pram, an underwater collision of space jazz and ’50s sci-fi cartoon themes with a touch of Les Baxter exotica just for good measure; the histrionic wail of organ, dynamic blurts of trumpet, even a sitar in the background mean that the eleven years away have not been wasted, and if anything the band are absolutely raring to make up for lost time. Where we have lost Rosie’s precise and dulcet tones, the trumpet appears to have taken her place and bobs and splashes around the songs, leaving a spiral of warm air in its wake. Sam’s vocals appear on second track “Thistledown” and at first listen, they seem more diffident than Rosie’s, but with a similar intonation. She seems to take a step back from the microphone, singing with less insistence and allowing more space for the song to breathe, with found sounds and tape loops that really sound like tape loops filling up that space. I was listening to this with somebody who was unfamiliar with the band some time ago and they asked me to try to describe them. The first thing I said is that they weren’t a guitar band, and right at that moment, a distorted and fire-breathing guitar break was strewn right across the track, taking me aback and putting question marks in the eyes of my colleague.If anything, what the time away has given them is carte blanche to try anything and from that outlook we have the ’30s Dizzy Gillespie-esque jazz stomper “The Midnight Room”, where you can almost see Cab Calloway sliding across the stage floor, to the clockwork-operated imaginary soundtrack to a Brothers Quay film “Where The Sea Stops Moving”, its bearing hesitant and unsteady, just like the broken characters from those disjointed films. When you think enough is enough, they stir us up with the underwater double bass-led waltz-scape of “Ladder To The Moon”. But it is the little details that each track contains that prevent them from ever sounding like anybody else. Where Jacques Cousteau might be a jumping off point for a track, the addition of a flute chorus and electronic walls of insects will always ensure that nobody can follow them through their own self-constructed musical maize-maze.
Echoes of the past do appear here and there. The sleepy trumpet and reverby vibes give a Caribbean beach at sunset feel to “Wave Of Translation” and brings to mind a little of the Sargasso Sea album. The touch is gentle, but gradually the track starts to stir as all life on the beach begins to awaken, while “Shadow In Twilight” contains the most lyrics and is perhaps the most normally structured song. The opening line “You tell a good story, roped me in” could be the defining quotation to describe Pram, because once again they have managed to construct their own little fuzzy felt and blown-glass universe, snippets of surreptitious trip-hop drums are allied to dramatic Theremin flourishes on ‘Footprints towards zero’ while a fairground organ and glissando guitar duet on ‘Sailing stones’.The whole thing is a joy, but I remember reading one review suggesting that the album was of no consequence. Now, I won’t dispute that the band is not for everybody, but I can’t help feeling that comment came from a lack of understanding or an unwillingness to understand. You have to be willing to inhabit Pram’s world with them, and once you offer yourself up to the band, to be borne wherever they choose and let your imagination go, then you can’t help but be charmed and transported. I personally have missed them, and feel that this welcome return is a work of great quality and singular vision that sits perfectly amidst their canon. If anything, Across The Meridian sees them setting sail for more places as yet unknown. Catch Pram live if you can. It is bound to be a treat.
-Mr Olivetti-
