Written by Bjarte Edvardsen
Without having heard Portico Quartet's self-titled album released one year ago I dived into their following double album consisting of 2012 live recordings and a collection of remixes. I had however heard their Isla released four years back and their modern take on jazz felt refreshing and left my ears thirsty for more. There was no way I could let this chance pass me by.
'Atmospheric' is an often used word speaking of music, so much that its meaning more or less has been diluted. When speaking of this live recording, however, it would be rather misleading not using the term. From start to end it feels as if Portico Quartet is playing in a different part of the atmosphere, or at the bottom of the sea. Jack Wyllie's elegant and gentle use of the saxophone contributes very much to this. Only very rarely does he head into crazy free-jazz improvisations - which is for the better. And although they do shift between mellow/ambient and psychedelic/intense, it's as if the gentleness and the elegance are important keys to Portico Quartet's approach and free-jazz elements would not fit in very well here. The label Real World wrote something about the quartet which made a lot of sense: electro-acoustic-ambient music. While that description could do just fine by its own, I'd say there is also an exotic touch to their sound. Think: caribbean.
The highlight of the live recording is Swedish vocialist Cornelia's contribution to 'Steepless' and there are several reasons to this. Firstly, the idea of bringing a non-jazz-vocalist into this electronic/jazz combo is in itself very refreshing and creates an important variation. Secondly, Cornelia has a powerful and, simply put, stunning voice. The fact that she starts singing in Swedish before continuing in English doesn't hurt either. Neither does the subtle vocal sampling which is intuitively being used as a background layer element during the live performance.
Continuing with the second disc consisting of ten remixes. The problem with most remix albums I've previously heard is the lack of consistency. The result is often a divergent one, as if the mission was 'Just go and do your thing, and then we'll piece it all together at the end'. Don't get me wrong though, the collection of remixes found on the second disc here are among the better. And as you could expect it is more beat based than Portico Quartet's own versions. One of the highlights are Luke Abbott's laid-back and cinematic take on 'Rubidium'. Usually I will quickly identify a remix as a remix, but Abbott manages to treat the original material with enough care so that both Portico Quartet and his own vision feels present at the same time and without the result actually sounding prominently remixy. Two tracks later however, the opposite happens when LV gives a shot on 'City of Glass' which is a rather annoying one. It sounds like someone got lost and headed to a rave party instead of sticking with the rest who ended up standing outside a jazz club for a little while; leaning towards a brick wall while drinking a glass of wine and looking up at the stars on a hot summer evening.
While I still have my doubts about the concept of the remix album I'm going to end this focusing on Portico Quartet's beautiful live performances and their original approach which is found somewhere between jazz and ambient. More importantly though, it is an approach which has evolved into a sound that is very much their own.
