Search - Pram :: Moving Frontier

Somnambulant exotica

Stargrazer | deep in the heart of Michigan | 01/11/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Pram's "Moving Frontier" is a bit understated, with well over half of the album being soundtrack-y instrumentals replete with woozy trombones, arabic sounding percussion, strings, flutes, music boxes and thumb pianos. The album's subtlety masks a broad range of complex and interesting arrangements. Generally, an intricate yet sleepy album. It's been a while since this band has hit anyone over the head, musically speaking. What, maybe the "Iron Lung" EP?



Still, the evolution of Pram remains bewitching and captivating. This is the music that populates the dreams of submarine crewmen -- as song titles like "Mariana Deep" seem to allude to. It bears some small similarity to the sort of polyrhythmic "ambient music" that nature comes up with on summer evenings, mixing and remixing crickets, traffic noise, waves, etc. into undulating melodies. That is, if nature also employed a jazz band and liked sci-fi noir movies.



"Are you afraid of sugar, scared of salt?" inquires distinctive singer Rosie Cuckston on one of the 4 tracks with vocals, "Salva." It becomes a chilling mantra that weaves in amongst insect-like shakers and gently swaying jazz instrumentation. Songs like "Iske" flirt with duende, but the trumpets are all muted and their fiery counterpoint reads as distant, perhaps in a nearby dark room. Some tasteful looping and electronic textures add unease and intrigue to songs like "The City Surveyor" and "The Empty Quarter."



If your tastes fall somewhere between Stereolab, experimental film music, and the swingier end of Tom Waits, this will be a fun album for you. It's more heavily sedated than "Dark Island," the band's excellent last album, so it is very much like wandering through a dream about those aforementioned artists rather than directly similar to them. You'll see what I mean."