I first heard of the release of this album in the Observer Music Magazine whilst staying in a hotel in Bournemouth for my mother-in-laws 80′th birthday celebrations and the news was one of the highlights of the trip. Several weeks later I heard a track on the Jools Holland TV show and I became excited all over again, my first impressions where ‘Now thats brave’ and I instantly admired them for standing on the same vain but with an altogether more evolved sound.

The second album is often sited as a tricky one for musicians but I think that the come back album must be even harder, fans may well have moved on and progressed there tastes, expectations are tinted with a hint of nostalgia and judgements are made on expectation of conformity to preconceptions. This is why I think that Portishead’s album 3 is a fine piece of work. It is still recognizable as distinctly Portishead but the sounds is so much more evolved in a slightly unexpected direction. Its not radically different then the previous two albums but its definitely a harsher listen on the first couple of tries, its an album you have to allow to build connections in your mind over several listens before it becomes comfortable but its worth the effort.

Some of the sounds on the album and in similarity to there previous works leave me aghast and anyone who is interested in the emotional and aesthetic dynamics of sound will not be disappointed, I’ve listened to it 3 times now the first was in the car taking my wife and youngest daughter to the doctors and i felt a little nervous because of the structural awkwardness of the arrangements on the first couple of tracks. The second time was a lot more enjoyable as it was fairly loud in my office through my Mac with the door closed whilst working on some design project and the third and so far most enjoyable time was in the car again with my eldest daughter by my side pretty loud and skipping through some of the highlights.

In summary

Its a good piece of work that is ostensibly unpenetrable due to its apparent awkwardness but well worth the time invested in familiarizing yourself with it, but approach with your mind open.