Source: Headcleaner

"Over" by Portishead

Just missing Halloween, Portishead release the spookiest track off their recent juddering shock of an LP. "Over" repeats a sepulchral string refrain relentlessly as tombs open, bones decay and Beth does her best scary stare. Then the scratching comes in, like Baron Samedi on holiday with his ghetto blaster. Your stereo shimmers, then transforms into a flurry of bats and disappears. Dark genius.
On the b-side are two tracks recorded at the band's celebrated Roseland Ballroom NYC gig this summer. "Half Day Closing" opens superbly with the sound of mindnight wind. Then someone in the audience lets out an entirely inappropriate whoop and I swear you can hear his soul get snuffed out by the tombstone beats of yet another mighty sonic Portishead possession. Beth's voice hits new banshee heights here, all the more remarkable when you remember it's live. Then some haunted fairground music plays and "Humming" begins. A 50s sci-fi b-movie theme with its alien whines and dramatic strings, and of course that voice, the track is an unstoppable zombie of a tune that marches over an awestruck audience scared into submissive silence.
Portishead: so scary they give themselves nightmares.

Rating: 10/10