Jon Courtney - Songwriting

Songwriting

According to Alper, the music of Pure Reason Revolution "grew organically from Jon's songs and influences". The band's prevalent use of harmony, described by Disorder Magazine as a "trademark", is credited to Courtney. Courtney's songwriting draws together the inspiration of such bands as Nirvana, which he describes as his "first obsession", the Beach Boys, the Chemical Brothers and Crosby Stills & Nash. In 2005, Gigwise.com, who termed Courtney the "creative force" behind the band, described the "amazingly intricate" songs as "one of the most enticing things" about Pure Reason Revolution. Another reviewer both praised and criticized the song composition, noting that the band had grasped the attributes of Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd and "...rammed as much of them into their songs as is humanly possible. Besides that they add more by having around about 9 to 10 synthesisers on 1 rack (very stable), a violinist and a female singer. This is what really created the band in my opinion, but in places also let them down. Their songs were quite long-winded with very little vocals and to say they had 2 singers it led them into a bit of a slump."

Lyrically, Courtney expresses an interest in writing about "the less obvious", stating that he writes "subconsciously about snapshots of life, observations, moments, my and other people’s experiences, dreams". Dreams, and the time individuals spend asleep, are among what Alper describes as Courtney's obsessions, which, she notes, "kind of trickle down to us". Courtney acknowledges that his lyrics are often directly inspired by his dreams, which he frequently writes down.

Amor Vincit Omnia (PRR's second LP) was released March 2009 on Superball Music, displaying a considerably more developed electronic sound. Classic Rock Magazine gave the album 8/10 and commented, "once other-worldly, PRR now sound like some mutant offspring of The Chemical Brothers & NIN". NME affirmed the progression with a review stating "they fuse electro with Smashing Pumpkins-style guitar-thrashing. In a world of musical conservatism, this lot walk unafraid". Courtney described the reason for the change of style in an interview:

Chloe and I have been DJing a lot of the past 3 years, and...we have big record collections to take influence from, lots of different types of music, but we definitely wanted to push it more electronic, big influence from bands like Depeche Mode, 80s era Fleetwood Mac, a lot of the newer stuff coming out of Paris. The harmonies of Pure Reason Revolution are ever present but we always said from the beginning that anything goes really, if we want to use any kind of instrumentation, song length, basically use anything for instrumental textures, there are no boundaries or rules. It’s how we create music.

Pure Reason Revolution's third album, Hammer and Anvil, continues some of these themes, though the thematic focus shifts from love to war. Courtney claims he was inspired by “researching my ancestry; specifically Great Granddad & his role in WW1… I’m staggered by the sheer enormity, the valour, the dead, the mass destruction.” According to Rock Sound, "the band have retained most of their heavy hooks to create a great crossover record. A track like 'Last Man Last Round' will fit into many Pendulum fans' heads, whereas their progressive elements are still prevalent in 'Open Insurrection'".