Seminal Birmingham band Pram break a decade long silence with the release of their new album, Across The Meridian.
Eleven years on from The Moving Frontier album and ten since an accompanying remix EP, Across The Meridian is released on Domino on Friday 20 July 2018.
As with previous albums, Across the Meridian mixes instrumentals and songs, weaving a gleeful path through the musical territory of film scores, 1930s jazz, sun-drenched pop, electronica, and post-punk experimentation.
“There’s a huge interest in the band in collages of sound, triggering emotions in people. That’s part of the experimental end of what we do, but we bring it to our more conventionally structured songs as well so that each one grabs you and you live in its world whilst you are listening,” says Matt Eaton, of the band.
Recordings took place in Wales and in Pram’s own Brum studios – all of which took some time.
“Since it was possible to record an LP at home on tape we’ve been doing this – cutting up tape, arranging, re-recording and basically writing in the studio,” Matt says. “This is part of our process. It doesn’t make sense for us to go to a commercial studio and walk away with the finished product.”
Discussing their writing and recording methodology, Max Simpson says: “Different band members initiate the tracks, but the complete track is a collective effort which is at once less straightforward but more coherent than the sum of its parts and reflects the musical personalities of Pram at the time. The process is very different now because digital tech makes everything more possible. The challenge is to embrace the new world but not to lose that sense of wonder that you first had when you recorded something onto a cassette and then played it backwards through a speaker you were whirling around your head.”
Inspired by The Raincoats and The Slits, coupled with a love of film and film soundtracks, Joe Meek and more, Pram’s quirky DIY approach was at the centre of a uniquely Brum scene during the 1990s, one which also included fellow Moseley-ites Broadcast. They released their debut long-player in 1993 via Too Pure before moving to Domino at the end of the decade, releasing five albums to date on the label.
For more information on Pram see: facebook.com/pushthepram/
