Pure Reason Revolution - 'Cautionary Tales For The Brave' (Sony-BMG)
3/5
By: Michael Lewin
'Space: The Final Frontier.' We invite you to consider how melodramatic and self-important a statement that is. Don't get us wrong, space is pretty damn cool. Stars, planets, the unknown and all its possibilities... it's pretty exciting. The only problem we've ever had with it is that a lot of geeks got hold of it, and made into DnD with laser beams - which is a much less cool notion. Space shouldn't be the final frontier, it should put an end to the idea of frontiers, should show how limitless and exhilarating existence is. With an infinite amount of space, your mind should be able to expand, rhizome-like, constantly find new flows and directions and provoke unimpeded creativity. So why, we demand, must the idea of space be forever associated by a dorky set of clichés created by a closed-minded bunch of nerds?
Think of Spiritualised, or MBV. Then think of Coheed and Cambria. Which, for you, sums up space better? Both play atmospheric rock that draws upon one of the ideas outlined above. One is a bunch of fat, bearded emo kids whinging about girls not fancying them and hiding it by using a comic book set on another planet (written by the singer! Come on), the other some chaps experimenting and inventing to create blissed-out, unique soundscapes that provoke a feeling that isn't quite like any other given by music. We admit there's a definite partisan aspect to our language, but we know what we think deserves to be associated with the vast, imaginative idea of space. This is the problem we have with Pure Reason Revolution: they're not quite adhering to the world of geekspace, but they aren't really cool or unique either. They're caught between prog rock and a hard place, basically.
Don't let us mislead you - they are not Coheed. There are a lot of worthwhile moments on this mini-album, and Pure Reason layer on the atmosphere with Death Star-sized spades. The already-released epic 'Bright Ambassadors of Morning' is the highlight, but the other tracks are neither dissimilar nor retreads. Twinkles of tingling keys like flickering stars begin it, 'Flash Gordon'-esque synth squelches, low, harmonised moans drift along before thick, juicy Led Zep riffs add much-needed meat to the proceedings just when you feel like the whole thing is about to float away. The operatic, multi-layered and winsome vocals that roll on above it all suggest a huge, universe-wide war framing a tragic love story that takes in death, romance, beauty and, well, laser beams. Where they could perhaps draw too much on the Zep or Pink Floyd, PRR are wily enough to allow a Brit-indie influence drift in, like the start of track IIIi (their system of numbering, we hasten to add, not ours), 'Arrival': whilst still retaining their overall sci-fi aesthetic, the melody itself is particularly reminiscent of shoegazers Slowdive or Mansun. Late-90s American rock is also quite well represented, with suggestions of the likes of Incubus and Tool easily identifiable and used to suitable combinatory effect with the other influences.
The problem is that 'Cautionary Tales for the Brave' feels a bit too ponderous, a touch too self-indulgent and self-important to really be enjoyable. Pure Reason Revolution's sound isn't precisely derivative, though its influences are readily apparent at every dynamic shift. But from comparison to those influences it suffers - it is merely a conglomerate, and whilst incredibly proficient it somehow fails to be unique. The weirdness that marked Tool out as unique, the originality of Led Zeppelin or innovation of the Mars Volta; the really special prog bands had something really damn special beyond an admittedly significant ability to create consistent and spacey atmospherics. Pure Reason Revolution are unarguably fantastic at the latter, with their murmuring, dramatic grandeur, and we can't congratulate them enough for that. But for them to be enjoyable or necessary listening, they need to let their imagination really soar, find something that they alone can bring to the epic rock table. As it is, you'd be better off listening to the bands they reference so readily until they work out what it is.
Artists in this article: Pure Reason Revolution
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