Sunday, September 28, 1997
Portishead prove their no dummy
Portishead reviewed

By JANE STEVENSON -- Toronto Sun

PORTISHEAD
Portishead
(Go Beat/PolyGram 539 189 2)

Those moody trip-hoppers from Bristol, who wowed the world with their stunning debut, Dummy, in 1994, have finally returned with one of the most highly anticipated releases of 1997.

The reason for the delay was that the Bristol-based band took two years to regroup and then record after Dummy won the Mercury Prize in England and sold two million copies worldwide.

Their followup, in stores Tuesday, is not nearly as accessible as their first album but is nonetheless an intriguing and compelling listen.

Especially since singer Beth Gibbons delivers her mournful, often-distorted vocals as if she's in real pain.

Adding to the album's overwhelming melancholia is the scratchy, soundtrack-like music provided by instrumentalists Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley, whose fondess for blending '60s sounds with a decidedly '90s vibe of hip-hop and dub continues unabated.

Some may find it a bit too much to take one sad song after the other --- there is actually a tune titled Mourning Air -- but it's Gibbons who sets Portishead apart from the other doom-and-gloomers out there.

The jazzy element to her voice -- enunciating as she does at times like Billie Holiday -- lifts the listener out of the musical abyss that has become Portishead's trademark.

Expect the group, who launched the new album in New York this summer with a 30-piece orchestra, to play Toronto this fall or next spring.

Unfortunately, they won't be taking the orchestra on the road with them.

Track Listing
Cowboys
All mine
Undenied
Half day closing
Over humming
Morning air
Seven months
Only you
Elysium
Western eyes