Portishead – Third
I have to say it at once: Portishead fulfill and surpass all expectations, and I can’t describe Third as anything but another masterpiece. But it is different. Definitely Portishead, but at the same time fundamentally different, and something entirely new.
The opening track, “Silence”, has a sound like you’d expect Portishead to sound like after maturing for a decade – maybe a bit more lo-fi, but with the familiar structure of lazy drum patterns along with familiar sounds. But then it is abruptly cut off, as if to make statement that the past ends there.
Going back, I’d say that Dummy was comfortably melancholic, while the self titled follow-up turned a few shades darker with its outcry of frustration. So, how would I define the sound of Third in emotion? Nagging anxiety, unnerving tension, restlessness and that feeling of wanting to crawl out of your own skin. The album never lets really lets you relax – if it isn’t stressing, monotonous beats or discordant semi-industrial sounds it’s sudden changes and interruptions.
“Hunter”, the second track, just lets you get into a comforting mood before an electronic arpeggio abruptly wakes you like a doorbell in the night. “Plastic” stops, starts and twists this way and that. “We Carry On” has a beat like that of some tribal ritual, and along with something like electronic imitations of primitive instruments the beat goes on and on and keeps you waiting for a break that never really comes. The whispering “Small” is broken off by determined, dissonant chords. And then we have the single track “Machine Gun”, like a martial theme out suitable for some dystopian sci-fi, a minimalistic construction of industrial beats carrying Beth’s light voice and, somewhere far in the background, a mellow flute struggling to be heard.
Minimalism is, by the way, a good description of the whole album. There is a lot going on, but the soundscape is open, even vast. It goes with the anxiety-feeling I described, and there’s something quite cold and raw about it. And along all this there is, of course, Beth’s wonderful voice – this time free from the vocal effects so common in the past.
Third is a work of musical art, far from light entertainment. It demands attention, left in the background it will turn into an distraction and lure you in – or force you to turn it off. It is Portishead, and it is something you have never heard before. And it is absolutely brilliant.
Official portishead site | Wikipedia entry
Portishead – Third at amazon.com: Download | CD | Vinyl
Portishead – Third at amazon.co.uk: CD | Vinyl
