For heaven’s sake, don’t play this at your next dinner party as an ice breaker! Unless your guests have a taste for experimental No Wave, of course.
You will probably know Portishead for their mellow 1994 album ’Dummy’. Well, ‘Third’ is an altogether more challenging affair.
The mood is edgy, straight from the opener ‘Silence’ with its harsh drumming reminiscent of 1970s UK avantgarde legends This Heat. Portishead references a range of musical avantgarde styles from the past 30 years. ’The Rip’, the most mellow track on the album, quotes freely from German art rock (Krautrock) and ‘Plastic’, ‘We Carry On’ and ‘Nylon Smile’ have the nervous intensity of New York’s No Wave acts from the late 1970s.
On ‘Magic Doors’ and ‘Small’, Portishead are playing with the darker side of English folk rock. With the exception of ‘Machine Gun’, the first single off the album and easily the most contemporary sounding track on ‘Third’, the music has a strangely dated feel to it.
I admire Portishead for exploring new territory, but listening to ‘Third’ is at times like walking through a museum. An extremely well curated and hugely interesting place, but not one you are likely to fall in love with.
‘Third’ is also available in a limited edition box set which contains a USB stick with the audio files and a couple of video clips, the double vinyl version of the album and an etched 12″ of the single ‘Machine Gun’.
Listen to ‘Third’ and download the album from iTunes.
We say: 
