Music Review//The Portico Quartet

The cover of this self-titled album from much admired alternative jazz group The Portico Quartet gives a clue as to the much anticipated contents. A stylized collage of the bands name, it's letters joined together to produce an unreadable equation, it sets just the right visual mood for an album that is made up of a fusion of genres and this makes the album a captivating listen indeed.


Music Review//The Portico Quartet 

Jazz often has a self-indulgent reputation, perhaps unfairly, but anybody expecting a barrage of vaguely synced horns will find much to dislodge that idea  here. The band is reputed to sound 'like nothing you've heard before' and that is not a lie. It's as if someone has taken the structural concepts of long form jazz and thrown them into outer space to  intermingle with the transmissions from Earth. There are certainly jazz ideas here but they are mixed with swirling beats, films score atmospherics and drums as ice cool as anything.


The best way to enjoy this work is in the evening, perhaps in semi-contemplative darkness. That is because this is music that will make reach into your own inner depths to discover something. In  the case of many who hear this it will be a love of this deceptively quiet but atmospheric record. Highlights include the haunting Ruins, with a drum line and synth that could soundtrack any long dark evening of the soul perfectly. The haunting point when the drums and swirling keys linger in the mix is impressive as to be staggeringly beautiful. Music rarely moves a listener in this way and there are many more examples of this on the album.


The opening timpani drums of Rubidium are perfect and as the song develops the bass strains, static effects and sax come together to make almost an aural force field of emotion and it is genuinely impressive. When the track morphs into controlled drums and bass effects it brings a new rawness to the song if there was a moment to describe their sound best, this is perhaps it. This is not just one man blowing his horn, although there is nothing wrong what with that whatsoever, this is an urban dreamscape of the future put to music. 


I don't to say it too much, this is an impressive album you must hear. 


Released on 30th January on Real World Records.


Review by Seba. 


A version of this piece appears on Catalyst Media.