ukevents.net
Joined: 15 Dec 2003
Posts: 2389
|
| Tell a Friend Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 7:09 am Post subject: Album Review: Portishead – Third |
|
|
Portishead – Third
Most artists release an album every three years. Portishead however took an exception to this rule and instead took a decade. Alongside other famous Bristol based bands such as Massive Attack and Tricky, Portishead were one of the pioneers of a new sound. Dubbed trip hop, it combined lazy sounding hip hop and sweeping melodies to make a sleazy sounding sound. With the addition of Beth Gibbons providing haunting vocals, the band soon had a cult following.
In the nineties they cam up with two albums – Dummy and a self titled second effort. Then that was it. After a tour to support the second album, the band seemingly disappeared without trace. Many believed that they had called it a day and soon gave up that a new record would ever emerge. It wasn’t until October 2007 that any sort of confirmation was received. A short post on the bands website said that a new album was due for release in April and the final stages of mixing were happening. Following a rare set at the All Tomorrows Parties festival, new material was played and showed a dramatic change.
The first single from the new album – tediously entitled Third lost the trademark Portishead sound. Gone were the down tempo rhythms and instead came a rapid fire succession of sharp beats. Deservedly called Machine Gun the change didn’t destroy the original sound fans loved them for, but instead showed a positive change of direction.
To say that the band have lost their original style would be unfair. After years locked away in a studio, it was always going to be a gamble with the direction of the music. Whilst Portishead could have just stuck to the same safe formula, they have instead returned with an album that already has potential to be a record of the year. Gone is the lightness of the first two albums and instead a potential new era of a darker harder sound. Let’s just hope a fourth album comes quicker then their long awaited return.
Written by Matthew for UKEvents.net |
|
