Pram (band)

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Pram are a band formed in Birmingham, England in 1990.

The band originally consisted of Rosie Cuckston and Sam Owen, and their first album Gash was self-released and sold by mail order and at gigs. The band attracted the attention of Too Pure Records (already home to Stereolab, Mouse on Mars and P. J. Harvey), and between 1993 and 1995 the label released several increasingly sophisticated albums and EPs. Early recordings were a krautrock-influenced blend of rhythmic guitar, keyboards and percussion, with Cuckston's eerie vocals and lyrics dealing with depression, loneliness and the dark side of childhood. A trumpeter (credited only as "the Verdigris Horn") played on several tracks, including the quarter-hour "In Dreams You Too Can Fly", on debut album The Stars Are So Big.... Second album Helium (1994) featured increasing use of the sampler, and later recordings show a marked interest in "exotica". In 1995 Pram left Too Pure, and released a cassette compilation of early demos and live recordings, Perambulations - some of these recordings were added to the CD reissue of Gash. Singles and EPs were recorded for a variety of labels (including Stereolab's Duophonic Records), before the band found a new home at Domino Records. The first album for Domino, North Pole Radio Station, was originally recorded for Wurlitzer Jukebox Records, but the label shut down before it could be released. 1999's "Keep in a Dry Place and Away From Children" was the soundtrack to an animated film, and also featured a remix by Mouse on Mars – while never strictly an electronica group, Pram have been remixed by several artists (Somniloquy features remixes by fellow Brummie experimentalists Plone and Tele:funken amongst others), and remixed LFO and the Aphex Twin for the Warp Records 10th anniversary compilation.

The most recent release by the band is Dark Island (2003), but the band is rumoured to be back in the studio working on a new album.

1 Members of the band
2 Discography
3 External links

[edit] Members of the band

Rosie Cuckston (vocals, keyboards)
Sam Owen (flute, clarinet, accordion, keyboards, guitar, bass)
Max Simpson (samples, keyboards)
Matthew Eaton (guitar, bass, keyboards, samples)
Nick Sales (zither, theremin, bass, keyboards, samples)
Alex Clare (trumpet)
Steve Perkins (drums)
Laurence Hunt (drums)

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Gash (1992, mini-LP, CD reissue with extra material 1997)
The Stars Are So Big, The Earth Is So Small... Stay As You Are (1993)
Helium (1994)
Sargasso Sea (1995)
North Pole Radio Station (1998)
The Museum of Imaginary Animals (2000)
Somniloquy (2001)
Dark Island (2003)

[edit] Compilations

Perambulations (1995, cassette-only collection of early recordings, some live)
Telemetric Melodies (1999, collects various single/EP tracks from 1997-99)