Grief is the price of Love, and out of love great art and music can be forged in the white heat of intense emotions and inner turmoil. Sometimes the sources of such feelings can be a surprise, even to the artist themselves. Pure Reason Revolution’s latest impressive album, Coming Up To Consciousness, is largely inspired by Jon Courtney’s reactions to and meditations on the loss of a much-loved family dog called Dennis, which he had to sadly have put down in August 2022. Courtney has revealed that as sad as he was at the thought of having to let his much-loved dog go, he was really taken aback after the event by the immense impact this experience had upon him and his family – far more than he had imagined. Jon and his bandmates have intuitively used this sad experience to convey the complexity and effect of the mixed emotions sparked by this loss, and other significant challenges faced.
Coming up To Consciousness continues with Jon Courtney and Greg Jong at the heart of this band as they did way back in 2005 for their legendary debut E.P. – the genre bending Cautionary Tales for the Brave. Longtime singer Chloe Alper has had to stand back from this album due to her ongoing significant commitments to the touring band of the popular Indie band James. She is very ably replaced by the beautiful voice of Annicke Shireen, well known for singing with Heilung. She played with Pure Reason Revolution on their last tour. Similarly, their touring drummer Ravi Kesavaram, also part of the band My Vitriol, seems to have now joined the band properly in the studio. Alongside the main band members, Coming Up To Consciousness also features an array of high-quality guest musicians, including Lewin Krumpschmid of Soulsplitter on Rhodes and piano. The Pineapple Thief also add their skills with Jon Sykes on bass for one song and the album was mastered by their keyboardist Steve Kitch. Most notably, Bruce Soord played additional guitars and mixed the album, including 5.1 and Dolby Atmos versions. Indeed, The Pineapple Thief’s main man had high praise indeed for this album;
‘Jon Courtney… is assured in his art but also refreshingly open, he allowed me to throw a lot of ideas into the mix pot. The album is loaded with hooks and the lyrics are very relatable, universal… it’s the best thing I have heard in years.’
If Bruce Soord is that positive about an album then this is definitely worth exploring, and it may be significant that there has been this synthesis with The Pineapple Thief as these are bands that exist in the same rather rarefied environment in which they stylishly blend rock, electronica and other influences with an ear for hooks and melodies playing concise impactful songs with great touch and precision. Last but certainly not least, the guest artist rota on this release is completed by the renowned bass player with the post-Waters touring band of Pink Floyd, and more latterly Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets, Guy Pratt, who is involved with seven of the eight main songs on Coming Up To Consciousness.
Well, they may have an impressive set of guests but does this work as an album?
Some may not fully understand the emotional impact of losing a family pet, but most will know that the grief is very real for those hit by that loss. The reality and deep emotional impact of that experience is etched into every note and word of this excellent album. Indeed, deeply felt honest emotions is a hallmark of recent Pure Reason Revolution albums, particularly the outstanding ‘return’ album Eupnea in 2020, inspired by the turmoil and stress felt about the premature birth and health challenges faced by Courtney’s baby daughter. The follow up album in 2022, Above Cirrus, written during and imbued with the fears and feelings induced by the Covid pandemic and ‘Lock Down’ periods, was filled with darkness and power, juxtaposed with light and fragility. This is a pattern followed by Coming Up To Consciousness, although this is no carbon copy, feeling more fully realised and mature as an album.
For those who may be unfamiliar with Pure Reason Revolution, firstly, where the hell were you?!
More seriously, newbies to PRR may like to know they emerged in 2005 with their debut EP Cautionary Tales for the Brave, including the brilliant and kaleidoscopic The Bright Ambassadors of Morning, echoing lines from Pink Floyd’s ethereal Echoes. This also featured on their debut 2006 album The Dark Third with an intoxicating brew of samples, dance rhythms, psychedelia, Prog and crunching rock, suffused with gorgeous harmony vocals. The subsequent Amor Vincit Omnia and Hammer and Anvil albums delved more into techno-danced-oriented styles, and for some they lost some of their momentum and what made them unique in the first place. They seemingly disappeared in 2011. In a 2020 interview Jon Courtney described Pure Reason Revolution as a band with ‘no limitations’ and Pure Reason Revolution have never really been easily categorized. Thankfully, the quality and imagination of their three albums since they re-emerged in 2020 has underlined their unique approach and often hypnotic appeal.
Coming Up To Consciousness has 14 tracks, with 8 main songs and 6 much shorter ‘interludes’ and a ‘prelude’ which act as atmospheric instrumental linking pieces. None of the songs much exceed 6 minutes, but these exercises in musical concision are packed with engaging musical ideas, dashes of beauty and thrilling passages – there is absolutely no flab on this album, using tasteful strokes and subtlety to evoke images and induce emotions, delving into themes of betrayal, grief, our sense of mortality and love.
Jon Courtney has shared that album opener Dig Till You Die was inspired by a chance encounter on a flight to America which was re-routed for an unexpected stop over in Iceland where he befriended a man from Seattle. Over dinner this man shared a story about his father-in-law who worked so hard all his life, preparing for a well deserved rest in retirement, and who then proceeded to die very soon after he retired. What was it all about?
It set Courtney thinking about living in the moment rather than always working and working for a future which may not happen. Dig Till You Die commences in familiar Pure Reason Revolution style with a cool bass underpinning a floating, echoing main melody and delicate vocals and lovely harmonies. Later in the song there is a forceful musical cloudburst in their unmistakable fashion, possibly symbolising the unexpected events which can overtake any of us. This is a song which certainly got this writer to check on his pension prospects as none of us really want to ‘Dig till we die’!
Courtney has shared that the loss of his dog was a very testing time personally which exacerbated his emotions and coincided with other challenges, which comes out in the music: ‘It created feelings of guilt and a sharp focus on death. Then, as I was getting over that, we had a possible asbestos exposure – I lost it. I was emotionally unstable, I had this feeling that death was imminent, not just for me but for my family, and it was my fault. Soon after that, I was diagnosed with OCD and started seeing a therapist.’
After taking his dog Dennis to be ‘put to sleep’, as we euphemistically describe the euthanizing of animals, Jon Courtney has shared that he was wracked with guilt driven dreams about what he had done in taking his loved pet to his death. Indeed, the title of the album touches on that state in between full sleep and being fully awake when we have our most vivid dreams. Betrayal is a remarkable song full of the mixed emotions of guilt and love, starting gently with some touching vocals from Courtney and some lovely bass underpinning this emotional piece. Courtney has shared the touching thought that his young daughter says whenever they see a white butterfly it’s their dog Dennis visiting them: ‘And your soul it passes by still’. The tempo and power rise towards the end reflecting Courtney’s conflicting emotions:
Not built to feel your death, It shakes me to the core,
Wake up, Crimson fields your bed
And I loved you my friend I was there to the end
Life and Death, Light and Dark are skilfully expressed both musically and lyrically in the following song, The Gallows and throughout the album. A tripping piano and plaintive harmony vocals lead up to a wistful sliding guitar and echoing, distant harmonica from Greg Jong.
Possibly, the most heartbreaking song on an album filled with deeply affecting songs is the starkly titled Useless Animal. This intensely personal song is filled with such sad images including placing his dying dog in his child’s pushchair for the last guilt-ridden walk to the vet. This is a song about not realising the value of something until it’s gone. Courtney finishes with words of such crystalline falsetto grief he can barely sing them out, and then Pure Reason explode with a powerful wave of furious rock, reflecting an outpouring of grief:
You’re supposed to be out of it, But you’re frantic and you’re nervous
Breathe the last one my dear friend’
After such a storm of emotion Worship is a calm oasis of gently chiming guitars and soft vocals, particularly Annicke Shireen’s beautiful voice. The tempo picks up with a slide guitar and later a curiously dirty sounding guitar pulses along as the song descends into a more forceful and aggressive direction, featuring some great drumming from Ravi Kesavaram.
Bend the Earth and Lifeless Creature is an impressive, segued crescendo for the album, with Bend the Earth dwelling on the powerful and sometimes disturbing world of dreams, and the calming presence of the one you love in the night. This recedes dreamlike as it segues into the ethereal Lifeless Creature with a gentle piano motif, soft bass and heartbreaking vocals. This is an emotional and evocative piece reflecting Courtney’s life experience. He has explained that his dog Dennis was with him in the most pivotal moments of his life including his marriage, their move to Berlin, stopping drinking, his wife’s cancer, and their daughter’s health struggles when born. When he had to end his dog’s life it felt like he was losing and betraying his companion through all those challenges in his life:
The alcoholic is dead, I see my child in the tomb
I bring my friend to his rest’
It is little wonder that Courtney has described his grief for his animal to be the worst feeling he has ever felt. The coda to the album is As We Disappear, which is named after the striking album cover art by Jill Tegan Doherty, an artist Courtney met on a language course in Berlin. The original title of this touching final elegy was ‘Rosengarten’, where Jon and his family scattered his dog’s ashes. However, after seeing the painting of a dog in a dream-like sea he knew it was perfect for the album cover and as a title for this final song. This is a gentle elegiac piece with a gliding piano and acoustic guitar opening. This plaintive, melancholic piece rises in almost celebratory fashion as seemingly Courtney becomes reconciled to his loss:
It’s in the air!
We’re gonna glide in rainbows, We’re gonna glide right up to that hope
Your body lays there till it’s all cremated
In turn, you fade into the earth’
The unexpected and glorious emergence of Eupnea in 2020 blew me away and Above Cirrus continued in that vein. Coming Up To Consciousness follows a similar template, but is more concise and subtle in style. Some of Pure Reason Revolution’s previous expansiveness has been pared back on this album, but this places the emphasis very much upon impressionistic touches and dashes of musical colour in musical vignettes rather than widescreen overwhelming soundscapes. Sometimes less really is more.
Impeccable sound design and flawless technique present these musical ideas and emotions in crystal clear sonic clarity. Coming Up To Consciousness is a very high-quality and engaging album with artful, subtle musical frameworks, poetic lyrics and raw emotion from the heart – what else would you expect from these ‘Bright Ambassadors of Morning’?
TRACK LISTING
01. Prelude: Coming Up To Consciousness (0:33)
02. Dig Till You Die (4:34)
03. Interlude 1 (0:21)
02. Betrayal (4:02)
05. The Gallows (4:40)
06. Interlude 2 (0:20)
07. Useless Animal (3:47)
08. Interlude 3 (0:11)
09. Worship (4:59)
10. Interlude 4 (0:18)
11. Bend the Earth (6:22)
12. Lifeless Creature (6:06)
13. Interlude 5 (0:36)
14. As We Disappear (4:42)
Total Time – 41:31
MUSICIANS
Jon Courtney – Vocals, Guitars, Keys, Piano & Programming
Greg Jong – Vocals, Guitars, Keys, Harmonica
Annicke Shireen – Vocals
Ravi Kesavaram – Drums
~ With:
Guy Pratt – Bass Guitar (7 tracks)
Jon Sykes – Bass Guitar (1 track)
Lewin Krumpschmid – Rhodes & Piano
Bruce Soord – Additional Guitars
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: InsideOut Music
Country of Origin: U.K.
Date of Release: 6th September 2024
DISCOGRAPHY
– Cautionary Tales for the Brave (EP) (2005)
– The Dark Third (2006)
– Live at Nearfest 2007 (2008)
– Amor Vincit Omnia (2009)
– Hammer and Anvil (2010)
– Valour (EP) (2011)
– Eupnea (2020)
– Above Cirrus (2022)
– Coming Up To Consciousness (2024)
LINKS
Pure Reason Revolution – Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | X