Progressive alternative rockers Pure Reason Revolution return with their sixth studio album ‘Coming Up To Consciousness’, released on the 6th September
2024 via InsideOutMusic. Betrayal, deception, fear, grief, mortality,
and questions of sanity: heady and primordial themes animate the latest
conceptual LP from Pure Reason Revolution.
Today the band are pleased to announce headline UK tour dates for late 2024, and you can find the full list of shows below:
3rd December – The 1865, Southampton
4th December – Thekla, Bristol
5th December – Club Academy, Manchester
6th December – O2 Academy 2, Birmingham
8th December – Islington Assembly Hall, London
Tickets go on sale Friday at 2pm UK time - https://www.purereasonrevolutionofficial.com/tour
Jon Courtney comments on the new track: “Very
pleased to launch our next single, showing another side of ‘Coming up
to Consciousness’. The song’s about how we don’t realise something’s
worth until it’s gone.
Taking
my dog to be put down & the emotional fallout, the unexpected
impact. Grief is the price we pay for love. Written as a result of
purposefully trying to avoid my usual repertoire of chords. This was the
first track Guy Pratt played bass on, he did a wonderful job & his
input spurred on further creativity.”
Watch the video for previous single ‘Dig Till You Die’ here: https://youtu.be/ytEnpyrsN1U?si=lFYV0plKlBv6_QQg
‘Coming
Up To Consciousness’ is the third of its post-hiatus renaissance
records that began with 2020's ‘Eupnea’ and continued in 2022's ‘Above
Cirrus’. Like those two predecessors, the new record is intensely
personal. Its eight tracks are all between four and seven minutes long -
concise by PRR standards - and they grapple with darkness of various
kinds.
Courtney,
who lives in Berlin, shared writing duties on several tracks with
US-based Greg Jong. The pair formed Pure Reason Revolution together in
the early 00s at the University of Westminster, creating breakout hit
‘The Bright Ambassadors of Morning’ as their third year project. They
reconnected during the creation of ‘Eupnea’ and have continued the
partnership since then both in the studio and on stage. Legendary
session musician Guy Pratt, who has worked with Pink Floyd among
myriad iconic acts, provided bass guitar on seven of the eight tracks,
resulting in more ambitious bass lines than any of Pure Reason
Revolution's previous records. Meanwhile, Ravi Kesavaram, of My Vitriol
fame, returns to the drums on this record after touring with the band in
2022.
Another
newcomer on this record is vocalist Annicke Shireen, known for her work
with Shireen and Heilung, as well as her solo project. Shireen stepped
in after original PRR member and fan favourite Chloe Alper was
unavailable for recent live shows. With Alper's schedule remaining
packed for the foreseeable future, she has been unable to rejoin the
lineup. She and Courtney agreed it made more sense for Shireen to sing
on the record if she was going to continue appearing in shows. Both
Courtney and Jong have nothing but enthusiasm for working with her:
"They're impossible shoes to fill in a lot of ways," Greg Jong says. "But
we were just blown away with how good she is. We were really excited by
the fact that vocally she does have a similar tone to Chloe, and yet
she definitely holds her own.”
The band was equally thrilled to work with multiple members of prog icon The Pineapple Thief; the record was mixed by Bruce Soord, mastered by Steve Kitch, and sees Jon Sykes playing bass on one track. ‘Coming Up To Consciousness’ is also the third PRR album to feature cover art by Jill Tegan Doherty, who Courtney originally met in Berlin on a German language course.
The
album will be available as a Limited CD+DVD Digipak (featuring 5.1
Surround Sound & High Resolution Stereo Mixes), Standard CD
Jewelcase, as well as a Gatefold ReVinyl LP (Recycled Vinyl), and
digitally in both stereo and Dolby Atmos. Pre-order now here: https://purereasonrevolution.lnk.to/ComingUpToConsciousness
The
band have also confirmed their first tour dates in support of the
album, playing in Europe alongside Lesoir in September & October,
starting at Be Prog! My Friend Festival in Barcelona.
27th September – Be Prog! My Friend, Barcelona, Spain*
29th September – Stummsche Reithalle, Neunkirchen, Germany
30th September – Backstage By The Mill, Paris, France
1st October – Colos-Saal, Aschaffenburg, Germany
3rd October – Cpunt, Hoofddorp, Netherlands
4th October – Progpower Europe, Baarlo, Netherlands*
5th October – 013, Tilburg, Netherlands
*No Lesoir
The band will also make their first appearance on Cruise To The Edge in 2025, alongside Steve Hackett, Riverside, Haken, Big Big Train, Robert Fripp & many more.
PURE REASON REVOLUTION online:
https://www.facebook.com/purereasonrevolution
https://www.instagram.com/purereasonrevolution_official/
https://twitter.com/prr_official
INSIDEOUT MUSIC online:
https://www.facebook.com/InsideOutMusic