23 March 2011 (released)
12 April 2011
Upon entering the smoke-filled Patrick Centre (a part of the Hippodrome in Birmingham), you'd be excused from thinking that we'd just stepped onto an enchanting Dagobah, awaiting Yoda to arise from the mist, as the lack of sight heightened all other senses into bewilderment.
Though with the on set of mysterious goings on, the fear was soon to kick into an anxious audience.
Travelling back to the days of silent expressionist horror, Film Ficciones and Pram fuse together a terror, more trembling than a gory Saw sequel, and lets face it, the fear of the unknown is by far more petrifying.
It's in our nature to be frightened of what lurks in the shadows, leaving the most heart racing scares to those areas full of very little but Foley-style footsteps created by Pram, combined with Scott Johnston's imagery of an eerie empty doorway.
This version of Shadow Shows held together much more of “a formal theatrical setting, in what could be a template for a tour in 2012”, explains multi-instrumentalist Matt Eaton, enhancing that realism with onstage, behind screen actors, who may only be seen at glimpses or as the minds plays tricks.
Remember those days as a five year old, where you struggled to sleep alone with the lights off?
The nightmares of ghostly elegant white dresses floating past the mirror?
Well that's what Pram have always been about, as far back as Gash, Rosie's lyrics have summed up childhood night terrors, while Shadow Shows portrays the imagery, clarifying that by the end, you will certainly believe in the existence of the paranormal if you didn't already.
With the sounds of old eerie organs and of course, no horror soundtrack would be complete without the multi-talented Harry Dawes on the theremin, the visuals of a Hitchcock: The Birds-style indulgence were given a supernatural blend of early German cinema and shadow animation.
Though it's not hard to comprehend as Pram member Laurence Hunt explains, “I saw a ghost!, or a schnapps related hallucination.
“(It was in) a small town in the deepest darkest Bavaria, where we did a lot of work on Shadow Shows.
“We were incredibly well looked after by some passionate people who took us to the devils bridge and piled us with local schnapps”.
Revealing the inspirational intake behind the creepy, fabled visions, trailing those retro/futuristic revelations against mystifying orchestral wind machines and trembling thunderstorms.
One thing is for certain, the daunting expressionless mask will always remain encrypted in my mind, as I toss and turn throughout the night in an attempt to overcome my insomnia.
