Since 2003, British rock group Pure Reason Revolution (PRR) have released five albums the last of which, 2022’s Above Cirrus, earning a stunning 9.5 review here at SonicAbuse. Boasting an array of influences from Nirvana and Porcupine Tree to Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac, the band have shared stages with the likes of Blackfield, Porcupine Tree, Mew, and Secret Machines, gaining a sizable following in the process. It has not entirely been smooth sailing, however. The band split in 2011, disappearing from the scene for some seven years (an eternity in musical terms), before re-emerging in 2018 to sign to acclaimed label InsideOut, which remains their home for this wonderful offering.
Coming Up To Consciousness, the band’s sixth full-length release, sees the band mixing their expansive pop-prog sound with a range of additional influences, including Talk Talk, Elliot Smith, and even the Arctic Monkeys. With guest spots from Guy Pratt (Pink Floyd, David Gilmour, Saucerful of Secrets), Lewin Krumpschmid (Soulsplitter), Bruce Soord, and Jon Sykes (The Pineapple Thief), it is another ambitious release from a band who continue to quietly defy expectations.
The album opens with Dig Till You Die floating in outer space, all ambient noise and atmospherics, only for things to snap smartly into focus with the introduction of Ravi Kesavaram’s drums. It’s a beguiling entrance, but don’t get too comfortable, for a hulking great riff lies waiting in the wings, providing a surprisingly brutal counterpoint to the ethereal beauty of the verses. Providing a most welcome reminder of PRR’s ability to hop genres at will, it makes for an immensely satisfying start to a record that continually shifts focus over the course of the eight tracks on offer. It’s followed by the gentle melancholy of Betrayal which, led by piano and sung in a gentle croon, captures some of the mesmerising qualities of latter-day anathema. With understated percussion, Guy Pratt’s wonderfully complimentary basslines, and the vocals gently layered, it’s a beautiful piece of music that builds organically towards its harder-edged conclusion.
The pace remains glacial on The Gallows, a track that reveals a surprising Supertramp influence amidst the band’s myriad touchpoints, the off-kilter rhythms and liquid guitar only adding to the sense that the band have hit on something very special once again with this release. The first half then wraps up with the vibrant Useless Animal, which gathers all the preceding elements to offer a multitextured piece with a chorus to die for. It’s as if the band have spent the last two years refining their musicianship to this very point and, when the track explodes into a Hammond-fuelled finale, the tension built up over the deftly arranged first side is finally allowed to dissipate in a rush of adrenaline.
Opening the second half, PRR reset the parameters, hauling the track – Worship – from a mire of shimmering reverb. With the vocals washed in delay, all the indicators are that this will be another reflective piece, making its mutation into a stabbing mix of awkwardly timed prog and jabbering electronica all the more wonderfully baffling. Splenetic, but not lacking in beauty, it’s an album highlight, and it showcases the band at their most expansive. It’s followed by Bend The Earth, a decent enough song that suffers just a little from sounding a little too close to Steven Wilson piece – especially in the vocals – although the concluding descent into electronica is both skilfully managed and deeply engaging. It segues directly into the winding loveliness of Lifeless Creature, which finds the vocals of Jon, Anneke and Greg wrapping themselves around one another, and the listener, as the piece builds towards a gloriously psychedelic conclusion which seems caught between Floyd and Muse in terms of weight and inspiration. The album concludes with As We Disappear, a stripped-down piece that offers one last glimpse into the band’s melodic, melancholic heart.
With a carefully assembled supporting cast, Pure Reason Revolution have once again crafted a musical gem. Over the course of eight tracks, the band takes the listener on a journey that only becomes more entrancing with repeated listens. Subtle, but not without its heavier moments, Coming Up To Consciousness finds the band quietly positioning themselves alongside the likes of Porcupine Tree, David Gilmour, and Anathema delivering a set that will, with time, quite possibly be seen as their masterpiece. 9.5/10
