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Portugal. The Man

In The Mountain In The Cloud

Written by: PP on 21/08/2011 21:01:09

Another year, another Portugal. The Man album. It's hard to imagine it was only five years ago that Portugal. The Man released their debut album "Waiter: 'You Vultures!'", and now that "In The Mountain In The Cloud" has been released, the band's back catalogue stretches six full lengths and five EPs, an impressive amount of material especially considering how most of it has seen the band stay extremely consistent. On "In The Mountain...", the band continues to draw from The Beatles as their main source of inspiration, but with a modern update to the classic pop/rock sound with an ounce of psychedelia and progressive overtones in the mix.

If "American Ghetto" felt a little more experimental and thus more difficult to get into compared to their masterpiece "The Satanic Satanist", then "In The Mountain In The Cloud" feels more like a return to the simpler and catchier melodies of the latter record. That is, relatively speaking, because no Portugal. The Man song is ever going to be that simplistic. There's always an eerie sense of otherworldly melody hidden beneath layers and layers of psychedelia that both makes them a unique band in the business and ensures that there's a ton of depth and complexion to be discovered underneath the surface. After all, there's a reason why they are often referred to as the experimental indie band who with the ability to think outside of the box - sometimes even outside of the room that the box is actually in.

That said, a gentle and soft tune like "So American" latches on immediately given its memorable chorus, and the same can be said about the lead single "Got It All (This Can't Be Living Now)". Some of this can probably be attributed to the band's signing with a major label, but then again their sonic identity is so well-defined already that there's only so much influence any label exec can have on the creative vision behind the four band members. Because lets face it, John Gourley's soulful vocals can't be mistaken for anyone else - unless you go several decades back - and the band's heavy reliance on organs, synths and peculiar percussion will always lead the listener back to this band and no one else.

That's also why it's always difficult to come up with musical parallels outside of the obvious The Beatles inspiration. Some of the single-oriented material feels like psychedelic late 90s Oasis, and some of the pure 60s inspired pop points towards the strange Panic At The Disco second album "Pretty. Odd". But I suppose it doesn't really matter. Like one fan put it, "they are something music has been in need of", not least because their mellow, intensely psychedelic pop songs make all other pop songs you tend to hear in the radio sound like recyclable garbage, or at the very least uninspired commercially driven mass-production. All there's left to be said about "In The Mountain In The Cloud" is therefore to call it Portugal. The Man doing what Portugal. The Man does best: re-defining the stringent limits of experimental indie/pop music and showING how deep, complex music doesn't automatically have to mean looking into progressive rock/metal. Perhaps it isn't their best, but it might be third after the "Satanist..." and "It's Always Complicated..." releases.

Download: So American, Got It All (This Can't Be Living), Everything You See (Kids Count Hallelujahs)
For the fans of: The Beatles, old Oasis, Panic At The Disco's "Pretty. Odd", The Sound Of Animals Fighting
Listen: Myspace

Release date 19.07.2011
Atlantic