"We went into this kind of naively…from making demos in our bedroom to recording a proper release" confesses Jon Courtney, voice of Pure Reason Revolution.
Formed at Westminster University in the UK three years ago, the band's sedately throbbing debut album The Dark Third will most likely resonate with a certain breed of classic rock aficionados. They've been accurately tabbed in the British press as "astral folk" and "new prog" as they conjure vivid aural images of Pink Floyd (the title of Revolution's 12-minute opus "Bright Ambassadors of Morning" is taken from a line in "Echoes" off of Meddle) with a nod to the harmonic genius of the Beach Boys, of whom Courtney is a staunch admirer. "The thing we take from the Floyd is perhaps the song structures and some of the textures, but they're one of many influences. Some people say we sound like Smashing Pumpkins. You have to make up your own mind."
Like the Floyd and the latter day Wilson clan, the collective of Courtney (vocals, guitar, keyboards, programming, bass), Chloe Alper (vocals, bass), James Dobson (keyboards, violin, programming, vocals, bass), Jamie Wilcox (guitar, vocals,) and Andrew Courtney (drums, percussion) is borne of the studio. "Yeah, though it sounds like we're all in the same room, our songs weren't jammed out at all. We did a lot of overdubbing and played our parts individually."
Produced by Paul Northfield (Yes, Hole, Marilyn Manson), The Dark Third exudes a warm, sonic quality not found very often with the present day preference for digital recording techniques. Though the band did employ the latest technology ("quite a lot of our material is done straight into the computer") the Revolution songs tend to simmer until a groove emerges from beneath other worldly textures. Northfield's primary role was to ensure that the lads transferred the sound in their heads and hard drives onto a coherent record.
Akin to the way things used to be in the days of gate-fold vinyl jackets and lava lamps there is indeed a thematic thread that runs through the disc. Says Courtney "I really like to dig into the human mind I suppose. As a band we're fascinated with the questions raised about the origins and meanings of dreams. By the time we die we'll have spent more than six years of our life dreaming and a third of our lives asleep…The Dark Third is kind of a concept album that investigates the supposedly sharp boundary between dreaming and wakefulness, and that perhaps the two states aren't so different."
A hit at the 2005 SXSW conference and well received in major cities including New York, Boston, and Montreal ("an extraordinary vibe there for what we're doing - they probably appreciate progressive rock a bit more") Courtney is confident that The Dark Third will reach its audience. "This record is a collection of songs that are meant to fit together with an underlying concept and fans of this kind of music will always come back to it."
-Tom Semioli
