About

Returning from a decade-long hiatus, Bristol trip-hop band Portishead took a colder departure from their nineties trip-hop origins, creating an album with a more experimental and industrial tone. Third met critical and commercial acclaim, with the album widely cited by publications such as NME, The Guardian and Pitchfork as one of the best of the year, and comfortably charting in most countries, reaching second place in the UK and seventh in the US.

Review

As with Portishead's other output, the sound of Third is a fascinating interplay between the dissonant and ominous instrumentals and Gibbons' voice. The album is a commitment to a dark atmosphere: the stronger tracks double down on a very austere production, particularly in the electronic percussion of 'Machine Gun'. There are still little legacies of past releases here and there with trip-hop breaks often surfacing in tracks like 'Plastic'. That said, I found individual songs a little difficult to stick to and need to revisit this sometime. This is definitely a cohesive album to brood on and it resonates quite a lot when approached as a soundscape.

Will I check this album out again?

Yes - Good one for me to revisit during a depressive episode!

Reviewed on 16 June 2024