Portishead have been MIA for a decade now. They appeared from nowhere with their loops, samples, scratching, hip hop influences, jazz influences and a melancholic view of the world. They introduced a lot of people to their more cinematic take on the sound of trip hop, a tag which they and the other Bristol bands were never happy with, whilst simultaneously becoming the soundtrack to many dinner parties. They were also very shy when it came to the press, preferring to shun the limelight as much as possible. You liked them, your parents liked them, advertising executives loved them, stoners liked them, ravers liked them—just about everyone liked them. They released two great studio albums, inspired a host of now defunct imitators, recorded a live album with a full string and horn section and then seemed to vanish. Beth Gibbons (vocals) released a folksy solo album while Adrian Utley (guitar) and Geoff Barrow (producer/instrumentalist) worked on production projects including an album for The Coral.
Now they’re back with a follow up to 1997’s eponymous release. 11 years between albums is quite a long time, isn’t it? And this third release, imaginatively titled Third, was more than worth the wait. Their previous albums may be well known for their cinematic sound and feel but this album is a much darker, more live sounding affair. You could almost believe that these tracks were recorded in a live situation, although for the first 2 minutes you might not even guess this was a Portishead album at all. Not in any bad way though, unless you were expecting Third to be a ‘more of the same’ styled album. Where their previous stuff was more studio experimentation than live band, this sounds like the exact opposite. This is also unlikely to be soundtracking a dinner party for Saatchi & Saatchi employees or merchant wankers.
It is perhaps the production of this album that really grabbed me first of all. It doesn’t sound as perfectly polished as their previous releases, opting instead for a more organic sound. The album opens with the kind of spooky vocal sample you’d expect to hear on a White Zombie or Messer Chups track, then a very understated piano chord ushers in the drums. The drums are more reminiscent of 70’s German band Can than anything from
Dummy or
Portishead, accompanied by some beautifully offbeat guitar until the strings arrive. Yup, 40 seconds in and the strings are back. The difference is that this time around the strings aren’t the main section of the music—there are actually quite a few guitar-based tracks here, especially this one. When Beth Gibbons’ vocals finally arrive—2 minutes into the track—she is unaccompanied for a full minute. This gives the track an even darker edge and shows how beautiful her vocal style is: it has an almost dreamlike quality as it floats above the music to its own tune. A lot of the vocals on this album follow that style, weaving their way in and around the music rather than following dutifully along like a puppy. Then the guitars, hypnotic drums and strings come charging back into the track, making Beth’s vocals sound even better. For an upbeat track, by their standards, everything is very gloomy. It makes Robert Smith seem positively cheerful by comparison. The track also has an ending more abrupt than a slap in the face. Great stuff, I bet it’ll have a few people thinking their CD player just broke.
Hunter is one of the tracks that sounds most like the Portishead of old. Perhaps that is why it was placed second on the album, so that those who were confused by the opening track will feel that they’re on more familiar ground. They do stick in a few elements to prepare you for what’s to come though, heavier than usual guitar and a touch of prog-influenced synth.
Nylon Smile is another dreamy track which drags you in with its jazz styled drums, atmospherics and echoing guitars. As it finishes on the line, “I never had the chance to explain exactly what I meant,” you expect it to keep going. But if it did keep going then Beth would probably get round to explaining exactly what she did mean and inadvertently step out of the gloom, ruining the song.
The Rip is quite possibly the best track on the album. For the most part it is Beth, an acoustic guitar and an electric guitar being played with a bow. Then all of a sudden a synth that wouldn’t sound out of place on Mark Mothersbaugh’s soundtrack for The Life Aquatic With Steve Zisou sneaks up on you playing the acoustic guitar’s melody while an incredibly basic drum beat forces you to tap your feet along. This also seems to herald a change in the entire album, almost as if they were just easing you in with these initial tracks.
Plastic is a very dramatic start/stop affair with a synthesized helicopter sound in the background, as Beth’s vocals yet again find themselves singing over virtually no backing. The synth and drums that float in and out over the chorus sound almost disturbing as they throw off almost any sense of rhythm you think you might have.
We Carry On is driven by a dub synth line and pounding tom toms, occasionally accompanied by a single note synth part that may push you to the edge of madness, but in a good way. It’s reminiscent of Moloko in some parts, Björk in others and then suddenly unleashes a guitar riff that’ll make you think Joy Division have magically reformed, not least because at the same time a Stephen Morris styled snare pad is added to the beat. It’s an addictively good track.
Deep Water is a very short track from a bygone age. With its ukulele, vinyl crackle and “classic era of music hall” styled backing vocals it sounds like you’ve suddenly picked up the signal from a radio station that was broadcasting during the Blitz.
Now we have the first single from the album,
Machine Gun. Its monotonal backing yet again leaves the vocals to flow over the top, weaving their own tune. It’s five minutes long and very repetitive but somehow seems much shorter and not very repetitive at all. Then all of a sudden there is a synth line that sounds as if it’s taken straight from an early 80’s John Carpenter score: slightly cheesy but brilliant at the same time.
Small starts off as an acoustic ballad and the cello heavy chorus sounds a little bit like an über-melancholic version of The Beatles’
Norwegian Wood. By the end it sounds like a classic piece of early 70’s psychedelia, with guitars, organs and effects reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s
Piper At The Gates Of Dawn in some places. A great musical journey that would have made an excellent closing track, but there are still 2 more songs to go.
Magic Doors has some slow funk styled drums and psychedelic bass. It may sound tame in comparison to
Small but the piano of the chorus complements the vocals perfectly and makes this the closest thing to pop music on the album.
Threads sounds more like their previous recordings and closes the album in a suitably pleasing manner, almost as if they’re reminding you that it really was a Portishead album and that it was a conscious decision not to release a sound-alike of the stuff they did last decade. The repeated refrain of “I’m always so unsure” probably sums up how people will feel about the album after a single listen, but this album has too much depth to be fully appreciated after one listen.
Like the first two albums, this is 11 tracks, around 50 minutes long and doesn’t sound like anyone else. Unlike the first two albums, this has basically none of the expected hip hop influence at all, in a recent interview Barrow said, “It just seemed so backward, and like something we’d done too many times.” A brave decision that could so easily have backfired but fortunately has resulted in some of the best music they’ve ever done. So who knows how long it may be before Portishead return to the studio, if ever. One thing is certain, they’ve returned with the best, most interesting, comeback album of recent years. Definitely worth getting hold of a copy.
Third is released on April 28th, Machine Gun is available to buy now.
http://www.portishead.co.uk YouTube - Portishead - Machine Gun: Video
