Pram

Pram is a British post-rock band from Birmingham, United Kingdom, active from 1990 to the present. The group begins in 1990 with vocalist Rosie Cuckston, guitarist Matt Eaton, bassist Sam Owen and drummer Andy Weir. Daren Garratt is also a member.

Early releases and Too Pure years

The band’s first album, Gash, is self-released and sold by mail order and at gigs. Pram then attracts the attention of Too Pure Records, which releases a run of albums and EPs between 1993 and 1995. The early recordings combine rhythmic guitar, keyboards and percussion with Cuckston’s eerie vocals and lyrics that focus on depression, loneliness and the darker side of childhood. The band’s sound at this stage draws on krautrock.

The Stars Are So Big... is the debut album, and includes the quarter-hour track In Dreams You Too Can Fly. A trumpeter credited as “the Verdigris Horn” appears on several tracks.

Developing sound and later labels

Helium, released in 1994, increases the use of the sampler. Later recordings show a stronger interest in exotica. In 1995, Pram leaves Too Pure and issues Perambulations, a cassette compilation of early demos and live recordings; some of these tracks are later added to the CD reissue of Gash.

The band records singles and EPs for several labels, including Duophonic Records, before moving to Domino Records. Its first album for Domino, North Pole Radio Station, is originally recorded for Wurlitzer Jukebox Records, but the label shuts down before the release can appear.

Soundtracks, remixes and later work

Keep in a Dry Place and Away From Children, released in 1999, is the soundtrack to an animated film and includes a remix by Mouse on Mars. Although Pram is not strictly an electronica act, it is remixed by several artists. The release Somniloquy includes remixes by Plone and Tele:funken, among others, and the group also remixes LFO and the Aphex Twin for a Warp Records 10th anniversary compilation.

After the 2008 EP Prisoner of the Seven Pines, Pram takes a long break. Cuckston leaves music for academia, while the other members work on separate and shared projects. After live performances in 2017 without Cuckston, the band returns with Across the Meridian in 2018 on Domino. That release features Owen on vocals as well as bass, Eaton, Max Simpson on keyboards and Harry Dawes on brass.