New Music From Viands, Pram
Viands
Seven Thousand Year Plan
(Two Rooms)
The Detroit keyboard duo Viands treads a line fraught with soft tension while holding things together, perhaps like a stranded astronaut sending out electronic distress signals while remaining calm.
Comprised of David Shettler (known for his work in Moon Pool & Dead Band, SSM and other outfits) and Joel Peterson (of Chatoyant, Immigrant Suns and Scavenger Quartet), Viands’ new, second album Seven Thousand Year Plan feels a little more naturally formed than its debut, Temporal Relics, with its methods perhaps less conspicuous.
Both bear certain elements of ambient and German kosmische music, and for the gear nerds reading this, Shettler and Peterson utilize a variety of synths (including ones from Moog and Arturia), keyboards (from Roland and Wurlitzer) plus a Rhodes electric piano.
Seven Thousand Year Plan features four pieces, delivered as two continuous vinyl record sides (or digital downloads), and the opening number “The Gifting of VA” offers wanderings with careful patterns and the pitter-patter of mysterious reverberating steps; notes stretch their arms with varying timbres and boosted frequencies, while some sharp-edged, reedy tones add their vinegar brightness.
That track leads directly into “243,” with the whooshing of aural river rapids, eventually pulsing with faintly buzzing discordant tones before a woozy unraveling at the end.
Side B’s combination of “Set Adrift/Celestial Companions” conveys uncertainty with occasional moments that crystallize into shiny pockets; at one extended moment, amorphous synth tones congregate in the low-to-mid frequency range for a slippery vamp, seemingly satisfied to flop around rather than commit to any particular genre’s hallmarks.
A heavenly din reveals itself with an ending that’s even more ambiguous than what came before, with electric piano notes that dance among unsettling drones; it’s the sound of an escape pod’s ride, offering a spectacular view as it hurtles toward the heart of a star.
Pram
Across the Meridian
(Domino)
For this writer, the enigmatic British band Pram scratches a particular itch that no other band can, creating playful and deeply evocative yet sinister sounds that are eclectic and worldly and never directly mimic a source.
Pram’s catalog, beginning in the early ‘90s, is full of treasures that bring to mind bizarre aquatic circuses, strange and alien lounge music, or perhaps the Cottingley Fairies frolicking in a haunted dollhouse in a Jan Svankmajer stop-motion animation film (start Googling, my dear readers).
The group’s excellent new album, Across the Meridian, comes eleven years after its predecessor, 2007’s The Moving Frontier, but it’s like no time had passed in the interim, being consistent with various stylistic touches—saccharine keyboards and organs, exotic elements, shuffling and propulsive percussion—but featuring plenty of variation to show a creative progression.
The most notable development is the departure of founding member, lyricist and vocalist Rosie Cuckston—some fans might consider this a deal-breaker, but this writer asks them to hear the band out. Samantha “Sam” Owen, another founding member, assumes vocal duties and offers a fairly convincing take on Cuckston’s vocal style, which is kind of like a choir girl on antihistamines.
The album’s lead track, “Shimmer and Disappear,” puts its best foot forward, offering a dizzying array of sources, muddled together with cackling brass, subtle Indian drones and a strong soundtrack vibe—a little adventure, suspense and mystery with loads of charisma.
“Where the Sea Stops Moving” has a melancholic mood with piano patterns, queasy background and twinkling metal percussion, conveying both unease and innocence. Synthetic tones sometimes give the album a ‘50s science fiction mood, while jazzy sax flourishes and a few sick wah-wah guitar licks tug the proceedings into other directions.
This writer can’t help but feel like this album—brimming with ideas, and worth the long wait—would have been more appropriately otherworldly music for the Star Wars cantina scene than what was used.
