Pure Reason Revolution - "The Dark Third"

I heard about this band from the NEARfest website and even though I don't plan to attend this festival I decided to give this one a try.
After listening to this disc nearly constantly for the past two weeks, I may have to rethink that one. You know a disc is good when you can't seem to remove it from your player before hitting "play" again!

How to describe this band? There are elements of Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree, and even the spacey Ozric Tentacles. Spacey passages lead to catchy riffs that would make Mr. Wilson proud. Think "Up the Downstair" or "Signify"-era PTree and you're on the right track. Their sound is more modern though.

According to the NEARfest description, the band has been described as playing "Astral Folk" or "New Prog" (that's helpful! (not)). One of the standout characteristics are the superb vocal harmonies, which include a female vocalist. At times the music is mesmerizing with repetitions and then transitions occur that remind you that this really is progressive music. At certain points, you almost hear Richard Barbieri (P. Tree) keyboard sounds in the background and the Wilson-like guitar riffs. Amazingly though this band really has a sound of their own and the vocals are their trademark.

In an attempt to say something critical about this album, I will say that the last three songs don't have the impact of the first six. There is a "sameness" in the sound that detracts. Or maybe it's just that the intensity of some of the music on the front end of the album shuts down my brain by the end.

Another important point to make here is that there is a rhythmic/dance element to their sound that pleases the female listener. The female voice also helps lures the woman to this song, rather than just being another Fish-like vocalist that makes most women run for the hills and plead with their husband/boyfriend to "turn that crap off."

When trying to decide whether to buy this album I listened to many of their songs (the 30-second clips) at amazon.com. After listening to the clips there just now, they are not a good representation of what you get. The songs sound thin and shallow compared to the real deal. Of course, my computer speakers have a frequency range of about 100 Hz. But also, many of the songs develop slowly over minutes not seconds so you don't get to hear the progressive changes much in the 30-second soundbite.

Somehow though I heard enough to give them a try and it was completely worth it. The sound quality and production of this album is absolutely top-notch. My Paradigm speakers proved that in a big way. This album is also just very listenable. It can be in the background if you want or you can completely pay attention to it. It is yet another great driving CD and it's good for late-night, dark room listenings where you can really discover the subtle nuances of their music.

Check out two complete songs at http://www.nearfest.com/event/lineup.asp (there are at least 3 or 4 other songs on the album that I like better than these but this will give you a good idea of what they are like)

Their website is www.purereasonrevolution.com


Doink Factor - 3.5 points (out of 4.0)
Sound Quality/Production - 3.0 points (out of 3.0)
Song-Writing - 2.0 points (out of 3.0)

Overall Rating - 8.5 points