‘Moving Frontier’
Pram interview
The elusive Pram are a Birmingham band who have been quietly going about their business for fifteen years. As well as having one of the oddest press shots in history a few years back, they’re responsible for a series of unsettling albums that fuse elements of electronic easy-listening with their own avant-classical toy orchestra tricks. The result is spooked music redolent of childhood’s more sinister side and their new album, ‘The Moving Frontier’, continues in the same vein like the jazz soundtrack to a surrealist Czech animation. Working in a field of one, Pram have been signed to Too Pure in the past but are currently home to Britain’s most successful maverick indie, Domino. They’ve had a collective membership over the years with much coming and going, but they currently consist of core founder members Rosie Cuckston and Sam Owen, alongside Matt Eaton, Max Simpson, Laurence Hunt and Harry Davies. Khalid Mallassi caught up with Pram for a brief interview…
Tell me something about how the band came to be?
Matt: “We were grown from a seed 10 years ago.”
There seem to be so many instruments and styles. Who plays what?
Matt: “It’s pointless to list the players of normal rock gear. We have a guitar and a laptop, a marimba , accordion, vibraslap [Latin American percussion instrument], flexitone [Indian rattle], monographon [we think they made this one up], Casio, moog, flute, Theremin, trombone, trumpet, glass Harmonica, steel pipe, ravanhatta [two-stringed Indian fiddle], saz [Middle eastern lute], harmonium, and spinning disks on turntables. Many others as well.”
Max: “The instruments play us.”
There’s a real atmosphere of fear and tension in your music, but with a definite sense of humour. Everyday items like salt and pepper are given a scary edge. What’s the thought process behind that approach?
Rosie: “Salt and sugar are given a scary edge every day in scientific studies presented in frightening ways to give us all something else to worry about. We’re just joking about it.”
Matt: “The world is a dangerous place. Move as a team, never move alone.”
Max: “If you really are scared, there’s a number you can ring.”
Your music is unique because it can never simply plays in the background, it creates a mood that is impossible to ignore. In what situation would you recommend listening to it?
Matt: “Honestly, it’s subjective, a tune and a sound can grab you any time of day and in any situation. I have inappropriate music for just about any situation running constantly in my head, so I’m maybe not the best to ask. It’s down to the listener.”
Rosie: “Whilst trying to sort out a very large collection of dusty trinkets to keep you from biting your nails.”
What was it like remixing Aphex Twin?
Rosie: “Like trying to make marmite ice cream.”
Matt: “Like trying onion milk for the first time.”
Max: “Like fixing up a fine Martini.”
Who else have you remixed?
Matt: “Mohammed Rafi (Amazing Bollywood playback Singer), Mum and Dad, Snowpony, LFO, Silicon Chimp.”
Your music has a timeless quality to it, drawing on the great film composures of the past. Who would you say your main influences in that area are?
Matt: “So Many, a few being Krzysztof Komeda, Morricone, Quincy Jones, Ronnie Hazlehurst, Piero Umiliani, John Barry, Elmer Bernstein, RD Burman, Les Baxter, Lalo Schifrin, Jerry Goldsmith, Sven Libaek. We’ve done a few short film soundtracks ourselves – The Films Kraft and Electric Séance . .
http://www.youtube.com/user/filmficciones70
The Animation Siniestro
http://www.dancingdiablo.com/
How do you put across your music live?
Matt: “Hopefully with the impression that we’re enjoying our work, which invariably, we are. We regret we do not punctuate the experience with lively banter recounting the days’ events.”
Pram’s new album ‘Moving Frontier’ is out now on Domino
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