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"It's like having a partner. It's like a relationship. You can't live with it, can't live without it. It simultaneously causes a lot of pain and a lot of joy. And it's kind of dealt with on the album." When you consider the way in which Paul Anderson, Tram's singer, guitarist and songwriter, talks about music, it's unsurprising that his band's third album should be called 'A Kind Of Closure'. It's not just in the intimate lyrics that deal with the boundaries of relationships and the scattered fallout beyond: it's woven through the music, too, a rich, textured hush that evokes both extremes mentioned by Paul. Such intimacy is at odds among the music industry's casual ruthlessness,where it takes a special kind of band to not only survive but to develop and, as a result, thrive. Since their inception in 1997, when Paul and drummer Nick Avery decided to look beyond the confines of their improbable-sounding "power-pop" band, Tram have recorded three albums of emotionally sustaining songwriting, instantly comparable to the work of Smog, Low and the sparser end of Americana. "When we first started, although Low and Spain, were making really mellow music there didn't seem to be that many bands doing what we were doing," remembers Nick. "There were times when we couldn't hear ourselves play. We seemed to be the quietest band around at the time." It might have seemed like dubious honour but sensible people were making the effort to listen, tuning into Tram's debut album 'Heavy Black Frame'. As sombre and stately as its title, it was a thing of bleak and delicate beauty, recorded with the assistance of Clive and Martine from Broken Dog. Second album, 2001's 'Frequently Asked Questions' expanded their bluer-than-blueprint further - subtle orchestration masking their spartan working methods. "We basically did the second album by ourselves," explains Nick. "We recorded the second album we recorded everything individually. I recorded the drums in my dining room in south London, Paul did his vocals at his place in North London - and then we put it all together on a computer. But this third album is different.," he says moving on to 'A Kind Of Closure'. It's really nice things keep evolving." "The emotional and dynamic range is greater and that was deliberate," states Paul. "The most important thing was to do it as live as possible. Before there wasn't a single live track on it because we didn't have the space to do it. We had a studio this time and the budget to get strings and horns in so we took advantage of that." He laughs. "I've always wanted to play in a big band - I've just never managed to maintain one."
As a result of this new experiment and expansion, 'A Kind Of Closure' is the richest Tram album to date, fittingly both a continuation and a change. On the one hand, songs such as 'Three Years' and 'Painful Education' offer a fresh take on songwriting confessional, elegant lyrics such as "The details didn't matter / the act or the actions / just the cold way he's been betrayed" belying Paul's claim that he finds the words are the most difficult part. On the other hand, instrumentals such as 'The Hope Has Been Taken Away' reflects how Paul, Nick, and their assembled musicians - including Simon Raymonde on piano - have filtered their love of Godspeed!'s instrumental grandeur into something more personal. It's not fanciful to see, in Paul's precisely understated lyrics and the domestic closeness of the music, Paul's fondness for Mike Leigh - what he calls "the grittiness, the stark reality of British film, that makes you nervous, makes you shift in your seat." In the current climate, Tram are just that striking, just that disturbing.. "Everyone is really fast and up at the moment ," smiles Paul, "And I quite like the fact that makes us even weirder. Although we are a bit louder now." Nick: "I quite like us being on the quiet side of loud." It's a fine position to be in - a kind of closure, maybe - but also a new start.
hello tram, your music is perfect for today, it is getting colder and being inside with some nice wine and your record on the stereo it makes a perfect evening. (do you tour by the way)? warmth, niels.
A long shot, but just in case you're in London on monday and fancy a mellow night out:
To mark the tenth anniversary of the release of Arco's debut e.p. Longsighted, we're playing a gig in London! This is the only Arco performance on UK soil since October 2004. As our next UK gig will, therefore, quite probably be in 2011, I would suggest it might be worth popping along.
Here are the details:
on Mon 18th August arco play the electroacoustic club @ The Slaughtered Lamb 34-35 Great Sutton St London EC1V 0DX (Farringdon / Barbican / Old Street tube - directions) Doors 8pm, on stage probably around 9-9:15pm £6 door, £5 advance.
ARCO began making music in 1998, releasing the "longsighted" and "ending up" eps on dreamy records in the uk. then came the "coming to terms" album in 2000 (also on pehr (us) and pastel in korea), the "transparency" compilation (2002) on pehr, and the "restraint" album (2004). in 2005 they played a short tour of the us west coast, and they are recording again in 2007.
"mesmeric - the aural equivalent of a human being pausing for thought as the world speeds on around." [Q MAGAZINE]... "...
YOUR MUSIC IS SOOOO DIVINE. HAVE SPENT HOURS AND HOURS WITH YOU. LISTENING TO YOUR MELODIES. TO YOUR VOICE AND YOUR VOICE AGAIN. AND AGAIN. YOUR VOICE. SO FRAGILE. PURE. BEAUTIFUL. JUST DISCOVERED THE HEAVY BLACK FRAME LP. WOW. BEYOND. WHEN WILL YOU BE BACK ? LOVE. FRANCK
