Feb 2008

One of the most influential British groups of the 90s is set to return with another classic album in the making. Along with fellow Bristolians Massive Attack and Tricky, Portishead defined the electronica-downtempo-jazz "trip-hop" genre to devastating effect. Combined with Beth Gibbons' dark vocals, 'Dummy' from 1994 and the self-titled album from 1997 have topped many music polls ever since. Fast forward a decade on and what you have is another stellar album in the shape of 'Third'. Featuring the pulsating track 'Machine Gun'.

• Rolling Stone (p.80) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "THIRD is an unexpected yet totally impressive return.....Portishead mix up dub, break beats, cathedral organ, Moroccan drones and even surf rock into a headphone album for sour times."
  Entertainment Weekly (p.119) - "Beth Gibbons' spectral vocals linger atop eerie, warped pulses of music to create a swirl of melancholia." -- Grade: B+
  Alternative Press (p.136) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Listening to Portishead has always been like floating through a waking dream, but now the sleek edges have atrophied into a dusty chaos, and it's all the more beautiful and perfect for the change."

Imaginatively-titled third studio album from illustrious Bristolians whose 1994 debut "Dummy" broke trip-hop all over the world with its artful, haunting and melancholy fusion of torch song, sinister atmospherics and slowed-down hip-hop beats. Coming a full ten years after their last album, the live document 'PNYC', this record sees them going back to the source, digging in the crates for weird and wonderful samples from prog rock, free jazz, techno, industrial and funk on which to work their twisted magic, as well as incorporating some of the folk influence that pervades frontwoman Beth Gibbons' solo work.

More than a decade after its self-titled sophomore outing, the pioneering British electronica ensemble Portishead finally resurfaced with 2008's THIRD, an album that both meets and defies expectations. Although the record features many of the group's aural signatures--most notably that exquisitely dark, cinematic mood and Beth Gibbons's heartbreaking vocals--it presents little in the way of vintage trip-hop, proving that sonic masterminds Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley aren't keen on repeating themselves. "Silence" kicks off the affair with tumbling percussion loops, while "Nylon Smile" drifts along on spare, slinky instrumentation, and "Machine Gun" moves to jarringly martial metrics that are battlefields away from any pop arena. Though THIRD is initially disorienting, repeated listens reveal a deeply engaging and fascinating album that stays true to the melancholy spirit of Portishead even as it wanders into unfamiliar territory.

In the mid-1990s, the dreamy-but-grooving sound of trip-hop was confined to the U.K. underground until Portishead brought it to the worldwide mainstream. Combining electronics, lush production, Ennio Morricone-like guitar breaks, and angelic singing from frontwoman Beth Gibbons, the band became a leader of the trip-hop movement. After its second album, the band went on hiatus and Gibbons eventually went the solo route with her critically lauded 2002 album, OUT OF SEASON. After a decade apart, the band would reunite for a third record simply titled THIRD.