Customer Reviews

North Pole Radio Station

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I like this little band. Pram's music is a low-fi space rock. They use the rhythm box from an old organ as their main source of percussion, play mostly in wierd little minor keys, inserting wierd little electronics over the female singers little voice.

I know not to use the same word three times in a sentence, but "little" discribes Pram's sound, and little is good. If you went to Jupiter and walked into a nightclub and there was a keyboard and a chantuse in a black dress, singing to little green men drinking acid laced space water, that is Pram.

The songs are structured, but the interest emerges with the wierd litte insertions of Pram. You'll never hear these guys on any TV adds.

Well, at least not on earth.

In response to the review below, I think Cuckston's voice is one of the most distinctive and best around. It was one of the first things that attracted me to Pram when I heard Sargasso Sea back in 1996. Her voice is very childlike, which belies the dark and solitary themes of her often brilliant lyrics. The music of Pram is also a mixture of the childlike and the eery, with sometimes very odd and inventive instrumentation. North Pole Radio Station has some bleak and snowy imagery, but also some very sweet moments. Check it out, but also check out any Pram you can find. And be sure to listen to Museum of Imaginary Animals on September 5th.

One of Pram's more sonically minimal records, North Pole Radio Station evokes an arctic broadcast. The percussion is kept simple and largely electronic, and arrangements are often adorned with thumb piano, muted brass, bass, spidery guitar, and not much else. There is a lot of open space on this offering, differentiating it from more cinematic (later) records like Museum Of Imaginary Animals or Dark Island. Sparse, dark, and absorbing music provides a bed for Rosie Cuckston's distinctly non-singerly voice, drifting in on nocturnal snowflakes lit by a searchlight.

I bought this CD because I wanted to hear some good experimental music. There is some very good music on here but the vocals are very distracting. I have heard a number of bands with mediocre 'untrained' vocalists which have not had too much of an influence on the overall sound, but with this band I feel the vocals take away from the overall sound. If you want to hear a good experimental band which offers some good vocals I would recommend Broadcast. If you don't mind the singing, then by all means get this CD it has some very interesting music.