Pram – Dark Island

A dark island worth visiting. Rosie's lyricism and the band's incredible outsider art blend of jazz, electronic, and avant-garde is one of a kind. Before I discuss my love for the music, three points of order.

1. I want to point out that the lyrics insert incorrectly lists the lyrics for The Pawnbroker as having the title Dark Island. Was the song originally set to be titled Dark Island? Food for thought.

2. The Domino pressing is pretty good. It may just be my copy, my equipment, or the natural distortion of the inner part of a record, but the last two tracks on Side B feel a pinch blasty. The album as a whole is stunning sounding overall, though, and was worth the high price.

3. As is often the case, the Pitchfork review of this album is infuriating. To complain that Rosie is "dreary sounding" on an album called Dark Island is ridiculous. To then insinuate that they are not creating the mood they are intending to is especially funny. It's not Happy Sunshine Island, buddy. Music reviews that attempt to point out how "what was meant to be achieved was not" are stupid, and I think it would be best if this incredibly common pretense in reviews is dropped. You just don't like it and that is okay. To need to academically justify why you don't like it, as if there is some rubric a piece of music can be graded against, as if you know what a band was going for and can calculate if it fell short, seems an exhausting exercise. The pretense of this review did inspire the reviewer to give us the line where they called Rosie a wind up monkey toy whose symbols are not connecting, though, which is kinda funny in a mean and artsy sorta way. In hindsight, looking at her political career, "bigot" would land as a much better dig at Rosie. Pram is one of my favorite bands presently, Rosie one of my favorite lyricists, and as a trans person, it is heartbreaking to know she would hate me for who I am, but that's the trans experience, baby! Shoutout to Rosieless Pram for coming out with Across the Meridian, proving they do not need her. Excited for their forthcoming effort, too.

Anyways, back to the music!

On the A side, Opener Track of the Cat erupts into one of my favorite moments for the Mysterious Verdigris Horn. An incredible song and perhaps the best opener to a Pram album, though my Pram opinions are wildly dependent on which of their records I listened to last. The first lyrical cut of the album, Penny Arcade, finds Rosie bathed in the splendor (or horror, oh my!) of said arcade reflecting, as she so often does, on dreams. The Pawnbroker is a touching ballad that paints sentiments of heartbreak in a much more reserved and haunting manner than Gravity from their album Helium. Their early albums are incredible in their frantic energy, as well, but Dark Island is Pram refined in mood and tone, a Pram that has already gotten a great deal of jitters out of their system, a Pram that is ready to sit down and really think about what to say before saying it. Paper Hats finds Rosie spinning about under the band's flourishes before delivering one of the album's most memorable hooks: "I would not risk killing love, my words would leave a trail of blood." Pram always put a great deal of effort into the record format. Side-ender instrumental Peepshow feels like a perfect end to previous (mis)adventures on the album thus far as we sit down to watch.

Starting off Side B, Sirocco truly breathes hot wind back into the album. It is a funky little number that snaps us out of the trance of the Peepshow. The Archivist has one of the most lyrically stunning moments with the monologue ending with "Nail each moment down so that it matches your heartbeat." Goodbye puts me in a trance every time I hear it. It's incredibly catchy, heartfelt, stripped back, with the odd charm and undeniable personality of Pram in full force. What is so striking about the band is their ability to pull off emotions with compositions that other ensembles could never dream of. Sure, I can sit down at my keyboard and play and sing a recognizable rendition of Goodbye. Stereolab, considered Pram's peer, could surely make something similar in composition to Penny Arcade. It wouldn't have the same magic, though. The atmospherics, creativity, and attention to textural detail Pram have are what makes songs like this shine. Neither I nor Stereolab could ever make the notes and lyrics come across the way Pram does. It's mesmerizing. Leeward continues the Pram tradition of several instrumentals an album as we turn and hide from the hot wind from Side B's opener. Distant Islands serves, then, as the introspection as we visit this side of the island. Dark Island is an album about many things, but heartbreak and loss seems to be the prevailing one. "One word and we're distant islands in an ocean of sound" indeed, Rosie. We've all been there.

I could and have said a lot, but this album is the experience of walking around a Dark Island after a rainstorm, the clouds still overhanging, the tension of thunder still in the air, and the sense that there is a great deal to explore. It's an album worth a million repeat listens. Pram has always been the kind of band to listen to repeatedly and peel back the layers and it is no different here. Highly recommend it if you're into that sorta thing.