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Rating:
Eleven years... it seems like an eternity, but it's the time it took Portishead to record the sequel to that album which bore the same name as the band and seemed like a dark apocalypse: sepulchral sounds, ancestral and penetrating rhythms, and the indispensable voice of Beth Gibbons, always deep and sometimes with a jazzy edge.
The third, highly anticipated, work follows that scheme, perfecting it: the initial "Silence" is enough to describe the album: a piece of absolute beauty, anguished with a flickering electronic finale that cracks on a almost jazz rhythm, Beth sighs and inflames. It is followed by "Hunter", even more surprising, an emotional and moving ballad. "Nylon Smile": another masterpiece, spectral, Gibbons whispers angelic/demonic "ooooh....oooooh" and disturbs while captivating, then "The Rip", a digital nightmare with the finale of a mournful electric synth that is a real stroke of genius, leading into "Plastic", the "Roads" of the new millennium, a song simple and complex at the same time, characterized by a broken rhythm of the most classic trip hop, with also peaks of electric guitar. Fascinating. And what about "We Carry On"? A sensational electric march unsettling with Beth who destroys the heart. "Deep Water", a brief shard of prewar folk from the '40s with Gibbons juggling a splendid performance on acoustic guitar, while haunting voices echo repeating some parts of the text.
"Machine Gun", supported by heavy beats reminiscent of "Hunter" by Bjork, is a new example of creativity and originality with an electronic lament finale that always refers back to another piece by the Icelandic artist ("Verandi"). Then "Small", the peak of the album: acoustic intro with Beth sending shivers down the spine, while an ancestral organ and skeletal rhythm come into play, making way for a crazy guitar. "Magic Doors", a lesser episode of the album, which sounds like a b-side of "Dummy", introduced by a beep, then devolved into a base of the most classic trip hop from the '90s. Not a bad piece, but pure self-citation. It closes with a poignant piece, destined to become one of the best tracks by the Bristol group: "Threads", a drum machine that beats and a spectacular finale in which the singer shouts a phrase, which seems to be "I'm always so sure".
Perhaps the best album by Portishead, certainly already cataloged as one of the best of 2008... eleven years have passed, but it was worth it.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Silence (05:00)
"Esteja alerta para a regra dos três.
O que você dá retornará para você.
Essa lição você tem que aprender.
Você só ganha o que você merece."
Tempted in our minds
Tormented inside lie
Wounded and afraid
Inside my head
Falling through changes
Did you know when you lost?
Did you know when I wanted?
Did you know what I lost?
Do you know what I wanted?
Empty in our hearts
Crying out in silence
Wandered out of reach
Too far to speak
Drifting unable
Did you know when you lost?
Did you know when I wanted?
Did you know what I lost?
Do you know what I wanted?
02 Hunter (03:58)
No one said,
We'd ever know each other.
A new evidence, is what we require,
In this world.
I stand on the edge of a broken sky,
And I'm looking down, don't know why.
And if I should fall, would you hold me?
Would you pass me by?
Ooh, you know I'd ask you for nothing,
Just to wait for a while.
So confused,
My thoughts are taken over.
Unwanted horizons face me instead,
Won't let go.
I stand on the edge of a broken sky,
And I'm looking down, don't know why.
And if I should fall, would you hold me?
Would you pass me by?
Ooh, you know I'd ask you for nothing,
Just to wait for a while.
05 Plastic (03:30)
I wonder why
I don't know what you see?
Of course I care
I won't pretend
It's just I thought
I'd said enough
Don't you know life turns me
Always wants me
I can hold the fight
I could try
But don't know what you hear
'Cause in my heart, you are so clear
It's just I thought
I'd said enough
Don't you know life turns me
Always wants me
I can hold the fight
On your stage
A show that you create
All by yourself
I am nowhere
You never notice
You are so sure
Don't you know life turns me
Always wants me
I can hold the fight
07 Deep Water (01:33)
I'm drifting in deep water
Alone with my self doubting again
I try to not to struggle this time
For I will weather the storm
Gotta remember
Don't fight it
Even if I
Don't like it
Somehow turn me around
No matter how far I drift
Deep waters won't scare me tonight
08 Machine Gun (04:46)
I saw a saviour, a saviour come my way
I thought I'd see it in the cold light of day
But now I realize that I'm only for me
If only I could see (you) return myself to me
And recognize the poison in my heart
There is no other place, no one else I face
The remedy will agree with how I feel
Here am I with plenty, what more can I say?
For I am guilty for the voice that I obey
Too scared to sacrifice the choice chosen for me
If only I could see (you) return myself to me
And recognize the poison in my heart
There is no other place, no one else I face
The remedy to agree with how I feel
10 Magic Doors (03:31)
I can't deny what I've become
I'm just emotionally undone
I can't deny, I can't be someone else
when I have tried to find the words
To describe this sense absurd
Try to resist my thoughts
But I can't lie
I've been losing myself
My desire I can't have
No reason am I for
I can't divide or hide from me
I don't know who I'm meant to be
I guess it's just the person that I am
Often I've dreamt that I don't wait
Enjoy the gift of my mistake
and yet again I'm wrong and I confess
I've been losing myself
My desire I can't have
No reason am I for
11 Threads (05:47)
Better if I could find the words to say
Whenever I take a choice it turns away
I'm worn, tired of my mind
I'm worn out, thinking of why
I'm always so unsure
I battle my thoughts I find I can't explain
I've travelled so far but somehow feel the same
I'm worn, tired of my mind
I'm worn out, thinking of why
I'm always so unsure
I'm always so unsure
I'm worn, tired of my mind
I'm worn out, thinking of why
I'm always so unsure
I'm always so unsure
I'm always so unsure
I'm always so unsure
I'm always so unsure
I'm always so unsure
I am alive when I sleep
Why am I not in all that I got?
I can't find no one to blame
Stand, stand, damned one
Damned one
Damned one
Damned one
I am one
Damned
One
Where do I go?
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Other reviews
By Blackdog
Portishead’s Third disconcerts, and immerses the beloved and iconographic sound of the Bristol trio in dark/industrial waters.
Beth Gibbons’ stunning voice in apnea remains the unmistakable trademark, the unprecedented threads of deus-ex-machina Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley thrust this third memorable work into a distressing and complex environment.
By sylvian1982
Rhythms have become robotic, cold, dark, and soulless.
Machine Gun... catapults the listener into an alienating electronic barrage.
