Portico Quartet: Monument – Album – Gondwana Records – 2021
Genre: Electronica, Ambient, Jazz, Minimalism
Intro:
On Friday, November 12, 2021 probably one of the most important albums in the field of Jazz/Ambient/Minimalism/Electronica of the year 2021 has been published: Portico Quartet with the album „Monument“. And as usual, it took me almost two weeks to musically open up this new work for myself. Unlike „Terrain“, which was released on May 28, 2021, the duo from London, UK turns more to the supposedly classic song structure, the 10 tracks vary in running time between 3 and 8 minutes. Certainly, in theory, „Monument“ is thus for the first time more directly accessible to the listener than the work „Terrain“, which consisted of three „sets“ (Terrain I, II and III) with a total running time of 38:46 min.
The Album Monument:
It is noticeable that the new album „Monument“ has significantly more style-defining electronic elements than the celebrated ambient/minimalism predecessor album „Terrain“ and that it immediately communicates with the listener in an unusually direct way. 2021 was an extremely creative year for Portico Quartet, despite all the adversities that this year brought, it is more than exceptional to have released two albums within six months. Both albums, „Terrain“ and „Monument“, are extremely important and formative for the band’s creative output.
Initially, both albums formed an artificial entity in their raw state, but eventually „Terrain“ pushed its way to the forefront. But during production time, Portico somehow managed the feat of writing both albums on equal basis, recording them in the same session, and yet modeling them as two albums that are considered separate from each other, each with contrasting ideas and forms.
While „Terrain“ shows us the dark sides of the all-dominating pandemic and how Bellamy and Wyllie dealt with it, „Monument“ appears like a glistening sign of hope that wants to show us the way to better times. Monument turned out to be a semi-dance album, combining solid grounding with pulsating incredible energy, luminous charisma and a scalpel-sharp view on the essentials.
In Their Own Words:
Jack Wyllie says: „It is possibly the most straightforward album we have made so far. It’s melodic, textured and characterized by efficient economy of means employed. There’s not much searching or wastage in the music itself, it’s all finished ideas, precisely formed and presented as a polished artifact.“ Bellamy adds, „Monument is somewhere between our albums Portico Quartet and Art in the Age of Automation. The sound is perhaps a bit more electronic – there are more synthesizers and electronic elements than we’ve used before, and the music is often streamlined and rhythmic.“
Some Tracks in Detail:
„Opening“ is the album’s ethereal cinematic opener, the short pulsing throbbing „Impressions“ with its typical Portico hang drums, a delicately dense saxophone and a club-influenced groove is drawing the path of the album’s musical plot in the sand. The balance between the aforementioned elements pushes the track forward into a wide-opening non-specific sphere with a melodically human configuration on the one hand and a rhythmic machine configuration on the other.
„Ultraviolet“ is a track with a haunting introduction, an insistently pulsating flow, and is somewhat reminiscent of Klaus Doldinger’s search for peace of mind with his band Passport in the epochal 1978 album „Ataraxia.“ The wistful „Ever Present“ is built on a simple piano refrain; a nostalgic melody line floats above it, while drums and bass groove insistently down below to finally celebrate a euphoric climax together.
The title track, „Monument,“ is built around a looped vocal sample, drums and an enigmatic melody, ending with a gauzy, cobwebbed synth line. The track captivates with sparse instrumentation and spot-on luminosity. „AOE“ jumps back and forth, building tension between a pastoral cello and saxophone melody, only to abruptly switching to vanishing drum patterns in tandem with a whimpering delayed saxophone and a feverish synth line.
The album closes with „On The Light,“ a track that conveys a sense of tension and regained freedom, driven by the spasmodic drums of Bellamy and a hauntingly spherical saxophone from Wyllie. The track seems like a perfectly bittersweet emotional position light for the Portico Quartet’s new sonic cathedral called „Monument.“
The Bottom Line:
Artist: Portico Quartet
Title: Monument
Format: Album
Label: Gondwana Records
Release Date: 05 November 2021
Genre: Modern Jazz, Ambient, Electronica
10 Tracks – 43m 56s
Portico Quartet’s „Monument“ is an incredibly coherent modern jazz album with strong references from electronica and ambient realms. The tracks „Ultraviolet“, „Impressions“ and „Monument“ are the album’s orientation lights glistening in the night, on which the listener and fan can wiggle along. However, the new album is again no snack for on the side, „Monument“ you must work out, like any other Portico Quartet album, track by track, day by day. If you have mastered this task, then „Monument“, like the previous album „Terrain“, is a friend for the rest of your life. The sound quality is – as always with Gondwana Records – excellent over the entire frequency range.
Available on Qobuz in
24-Bit / 44.1 kHz – Stereo
Here again the link to the review of Terrain and listening possibilities:
My Test Equipment:
Studio 1 (High End):
- 2 x System Audio SA Mantra 50 (front)
- 1x System Audio SA Mantra 10 AV (center)
- 2x System Audio SA Legend 5 (rear)
- 1 x System Audio Saxo 10 (subwoofer)
- 4 x Onkyo SKH-410 (B) (Dolby Atmos)
- Auralic Altair (audio streaming client with max. 32 bit / 384 kHz)
- NVIDIA Shield Pro with Plex, Kodi (max 192 kHz for Audio, Tidal (MQA Streaming Client)
- AppleTV 4K (Streaming Client) Dolby Atmos, HDR, Dolby Vision
- Amazon Cube 4K (Streaming Client) Dolby Atmos (restricted), HDR, Dolby Vision
- Panasonic DP-UB9004 (4K UHD Player) Dolby Atmos, HDR, Dolby Vision
- Oppo UDP-203 (4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc Player) Dolby Atmos, HDR, Dolby Vision
- Yamaha CX-A5100 (Preamp) 4K, Dolby Atmos, Hi-res
- Yamaha MX-A5000 (Power Amp)
- Sony KD-55A1 (TV) 4K OLED, HDR, Dolby Vision