Portishead--Third

We waited for years, roughly a decade for Portishead’s ‘new’ album that has been shrouded in rumors of release dates and content for almost just as long. But finally (finally!) Third arrived and the first time it played I couldn’t help but hold my breath with excitement and nervousness. The opening French chatter of ‘Silence’ with the molasses slow build up to Beth’s vocal almost made the tension worse: it can’t be that good! Sweet mother of god! As the album glided along, it was clear that Portishead had accomplished more than just a comeback, they are going to be one of those magical mixes of personality, style and vision that will make all of the albums live anew each generation.

The album is mostly delicious—“Small” has a lonely, lost in space vibe that is hard to shake, even when the organ and string enter into the mix; “Plastic” has the classic feeling that made trip-hop into one of the emo of electronic music. Surprisingly, the first single, “Machine Gun” sounds too formulaic and trips on it’s own annoying and shallow drum loop. It’s a few minor missteps like “Machine Gun” and the major annoying and awful turd “Deep Water” that keep Third from being their best yet. And even though most of the tracks harken back to a time when electronic music wasn’t just pop-electro, there is a permeating feeling that this album belongs in 2003—it’s already retro. If you listened to Dummy and Portishead through headphones in the dark, you’ll likely do some heavy reminiscing about that period in your life, Third takes you right back. It might be next in line, but it isn’t necessarily progress. Closer “Threads” shows Portishead as the voice of sorrow we’ve all come to know and love despite attempts at pharmaceutical happiness, growing up and moving on. But really, what’s wrong with taking a walk down memory lane to a new soundtrack?