Portico Quartet: Live/Remix
Author: Selwyn Harris
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Musicians: |
Duncan Bellamy (d, elec) |
Label: |
Real World |
Magazine Review Date: |
May/2013 |
Catalogue Number: |
CDRWP194 |
RecordDate: |
2012 |
Portico is a group now virtually unrecognisable from their genteel, pure acoustic 2008 Mercury Prize-nominated debut Knee Deep in the North Sea. But the Hang, the Swiss-invented tuned hand drum that became a big talking point and a signature of the band, is still around, if adding a more understated colour to a new trance-like textural soundscape that puts ambient electronica on an equal footing to live acoustics – Jack Wylie's murmuring sax is a ghost of its former self but effective in this context all the same. This live set of recordings from a 2012 tour demonstrates the musical camaraderie and collective empathy of their initial Thames' South Bank busking days is still very much alive. Tracks are taken from the 2009 Real World label debut Isla and last year's eponymous album and their super chilled melodies are infectious. The recording also includes the ethereal kitten-ish Swedish guest singer Cornelia on one track ‘Steepless’, which she co-wrote with the band. CD2 is remixes likely to please Gilles Peterson show-listeners and nu-jazzers with a pick of the band's favourite producers and DJs turning the recording on its head with stripped-down textures, blasts of analogue and clubby beats.

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