Portico Quartet – Monument (Ltd Edn Clear Vinyl 2LP)
$55.00
Portico Quartet’s music should be easy to describe, but it turns out that it’s not, even for them. They often call it “widescreen,” which is the kind of cinematic metaphor that music reviewers resort to when they can’t think of anything else. They named themselves Portico Quartet because they first played under a portico as a quartet. When they released Terrain earlier this year, saxophonist and keyboardist Jack Wyllie explained, “The core of it is having a repeated pattern, around which other parts move in and out, and start to form a narrative.” But that is practically a textbook definition of music itself, and the vagueness of his description mirrors the faint sense of blankness that mysteriously blankets this group’s consistently fine work.
1. Opening 2. Impressions 3. Ultraviolet
4. Ever Present 5. Gateway 6. Monument
7. A.O.E 8. Warm Data 9. Portal
10. On The Light
To be fair, Wyllie also said that Terrain was inspired by American minimalism, which is obvious, and the Japanese composer Midori Takada, which is a fresh surprise. Monument, Portico Quartet’s second album of 2021, really is a change of pace, in that the pieces are short instead of long and starched with electronic dance music instead of ambient. But the overall schematic seems largely the same, as it does across their albums. Their gifts for melodic immediacy, rhythmic precision, and supple finishing allow them to iterate on a slender template so pleasingly that you feel like Richie Rich whining if it gets predictable: Aw, Mom, filet mignon again?
The group, based in London, features Wyllie leading percussionist Duncan Bellamy, bassist Milo Fitzpatrick, and keyboardist Keir Vine. Everyone has at least a little something electronic in their setup, and the rhythm section prominently features the hang, a UFO-shaped steel drum that was invented about 20 years ago. They generally start a track by weaving a long, flashing pattern of interlocked ostinatos from the threads of the minimalist canon. After caressing and washing it with drums, they eventually drop a roomy beat, cueing the saxophone to lyricize freely. This is almost unvarying. Still, the musicians riff on their elected straits as adeptly as seasoned sonneteers.
Out of stock