We Carry On: The New Sounds of Portishead

Album: Third
Artist: Portishead
Genre: Down Tempo Electronica
Year: 2008
Label: Island

This is not Portishead of yore. In 1994, Portishead was one of the premier Trip-Hop acts, along with Massive Attack. Their music was informed by a Down Tempo, Jazz influenced sound, with Beth Gibbon’s unearthly vocals haunting the air. Their first album, Dummy, is a classic piece of Bristol Trip-Hop. In 1997, they released a self titled album and 1998, a live album. They then withdrew from the spotlight and performed for roughly ten years. Last year, Portishead returned with their appropriately named “Third” album. Unlike the Noir Jazz sounds of Portishead classic, this is a different animal, drawing on numerous electronic elements to form a cold and alienating whole. This album, more than their previous efforts, centers around the musical wizardry of Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley. Beth Gibbons is still present and her vocals remain as eerie as ever, but the music she sings over is far more forward then the music of Dummy or the self-titled album.

The music of Dummy was immediately beautiful and spooky. The music of Third on the other hand, is immediately spooky, but the beauty may take time to emerge. Having eschewed the Jazz influence almost entirely, this album sounds rougher, not more rock, but more electric, with fewer samples and more raw sound, the kind you might get from a really old synth. This isn’t the only major twist though. One of the tracks, the short “Deep Water” is 1 minute and 33 seconds of Beth Gibbons and a tropical ukulele, creating one of the strangest Portishead songs ever recorded. It’s the most fun, and I do mean FUN, that you’ll ever have with Portishead and it reveals a sort of humor not normally seen in Gibbon’s sadness soaked vocals. “Machine Gun”, on the other hand, is a jack hammer of a song, with sharp, repetitive beats banging along like factory machines. It’s probably the loudest Portishead song that’s ever been committed to tape and its menacing atmosphere communicates a kind of fear that has only been hinted at in their music.

Third is nigh perfect, though it may not appeal to you in the same way that Dummy did. But this isn’t Dummy and shouldn’t be confused for it or their self-titled album. As I said before, this is a new animal, bred from blue electronics and an earth angel’s voice. Its sound is foreign, yet familiar and brings a kind of melancholy that hasn’t been felt in music for a long time. If you’re feeling blue, this album is for you.