AMG Review of Sargasso Sea

Stewart Mason
All Music Guide

Pram's minimalist, Krautrock-influenced brand of electronica is not for everyone (singer/lyricist Rosie Cuckston's little-girl voice seems to be the deal-breaker for many), but their fifth release, 1995's Sargasso Sea, is a good entry point for the dubious. Less brittle than early records like Gash and Howl, these ten lengthy tracks continue the trend of richer and more melodic sounds hinted at on the previous year's Helium. Several tracks, most notably the grooving opener "Loose Threads," even add trumpet and saxophones; others develop the vaguely jazzy feel with vibes and brushed percussion. ("Earthling and Protection" even has a little hint of a bossa nova feel, though it's refracted through an arrangement featuring boinging and whizzing sounds that sound kind of like a plumber's visit on Mars.) Pram is most often compared to their ex-labelmates Stereolab (fair enough, since Cuckston and Stereolab singer Laetitia Sadier had a duo side project, Monade, happening around the time Sargasso Sea came out), but in truthfulness, Sargasso Sea is as close to a Stereolab-like album as they ever got, and even it's much closer to the angularity and experimentalism of, say, Transient Random Noise Bursts With Announcements than later, smoother albums like Dots and Loops.