PortisheadThird
Island
2008
Third is wicked good, but Treblezine's Album of the Year? How could it not be? We have come to expect only the best from Geoff Barrow, Adrian Utley and siren Beth Gibbons, and Portishead delivers on Third. From the start of "Silence" (originally entitled Wicca), the album opens with a sample of Claudio Campos, a Capoeira master, speaking in Portuguese, reciting a Wiccan precept of the Threefold Law which translates: "Be aware to the rule of thirds. What you give will return to you. You have to learn this lesson. You only receive what you deserve…"
We all were a bit shocked, weren't we? I myself didn't know what to expect but I know it would be challenging, timeless and pure Portishead. Besides, I wouldn't want to hear Dummy part deux. Who would? Third is an artistic achievement by a band that's been relatively quiet for ten years. To awaken from their creative sabbatical with this greatness is a gift from up above.
Gone are the now unfortunate clichéd trip-hop beats, which have evolved into futuristic soundscapes that include the tripped-out prog vibes of "Small," moog synths in "Machine Gun," freaked out cacophony of jazz horns on "Magic Doors" and otherworldly rhythms that perfectly back our favorite damsel of despair. If the back beats hint at an era of desolated isolationism, Gibbons angelic vocals brings some sense of struggle to find hope, in the quietly acoustic "Deep Water" as she sings "I'm drifting in deep water/alone with my self-doubting, again/try not to struggle this time/for I will weather the storm…"through the maddening soundtrack that surrounds her every one of her mesmerizing vocalized harmonies. When she croons "Oh can't you see/holding on to my heart/I bleed the taste of life" on "We Carry On," Beth mirrors our every day challenges to find some glimmer of promises in this age of bankrupt idealism.
If Dummy and Portishead were the sounds of the band during the Cold War/Spy era, then songs like "Machine Gun" show Portishead in the middle of sonic air assault. At times Beth Gibbons sounds as if she's embedded on the battlefield, her angelic vocals describing the chaos she sees around her.
Portishead have become one of the most important and influential artists of our generations. So much so that even Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood recorded an impromptu cover of "The Rip" as an homage to one of Radiohead's favorite bands. Portishead's Third is more than the album of 2008, this is a snapshot of our unknown future. I imagine Beth Gibbons outside on December 21st, 2012 when I hear the eerie siren-like sound towards the end of "Threads." "I'm always so unsure" is Gibbons once again singing our own insecurities. What will happen tomorrow, next year or here after? Who knows? We will find out together. What I hope is to have Geoff, Adrian and Beth there along to create the soundtrack for our everlasting uncertainty that prevails within us all.
Adrian Ernesto Cepeda
12.19.2008
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