In 2006, emerging prog band Pure Reason Revolution seemed to be set fair: encouraging reviews for the potent, atmospheric musical light and shade on their major label debut The Dark Third; a tour with Porcupine Tree in the offing; praise from Rick Wakeman.
But the plot got sidetracked. There were line-up changes. The music on their next two albums no longer seemed to be flowing as freely as before. There were occasional musical tangents that didn’t seem to lead anywhere. Although the band had built a following, they called it quits in 2011.
But a sense of unfinished business evidently lingered. In 2019 the original trio of singers and guitarists got back together, and the following year’s Upnea harked back to their debut with a conceptual feel.
Above Cirrus doesn’t have that conceptual feel, but the band have instead harnessed the mental dislocation of the pandemic to give their music a sharper focus.
