Third, the first studio album by seminal electronic group Portishead since 1997’s self-titled effort, accomplishes the improbable.  Not only is the long-anticipated LP brilliant musically, but it is the perfect album to release eleven years after their last.  The record is somehow true to their musical aesthetic, to the essence of Portishead, while still managing to sound entirely fresh and new.  The band clearly doesn’t feel the need to incorporate the superficial elements of their earlier works to create something that could be identified as recognizably, distinctively Portishead.  The music is simultaneously familiar and foreign; it is both satisfying to fans and their bold step forward. Turntablist and assumed mastermind Geoff Barrow has repeatedly expressed his dismay at the term “trip-hop” being applied to his music, as it hints at an audience of thirty-somethings eating meticulously prepared hors d’oeuvres while playing Dummy in the background of their wine-tasting.  Third refuses to be background music, forcefully making the listener take notice of its plentiful moments of uneasiness and the rare strains of melody that creep their way into the songs.  A defining trait of the group has always been its uncompromising adventurousness, and this new record definitely carries on this tradition.

At first listen, I hadn’t formed any opinion on the record, as the new songs were simply too strange to commit to liking or disliking.  I had no trouble accepting Third as part of Portishead’s complete body of work, something I find extremely difficult to do with work released a significant length of time after the artist’s prime.  Barrow’s great taste in drum sounds and rhythms are definitely present, as were Beth Gibbons’ delicate vocals and Adrian Utley’s distinctive guitar touch, but their approach to making music is entirely different.  Gone is the reliance on samplers and lush yet grainy production, replaced by minimal, live instrumentation fed through what sounds like defunct amps.  The vocal melodies are mostly beautiful strictly within the context of the dissonant, disorienting soundscapes created by Barrow and Utley.  The hooks around which the songs once revolved are absent, except perhaps on the penultimate track “Magic Doors.”  Gibbons’ singing provide the emotional center, though not necessarily the musical center, for the songs, a spot of warmth in each of the emotionally distant and icy instrumentals.  Only through repeated listens did I find Third to be an incredibly rewarding experience, as my head finally wrapped itself around its bizarre and beautiful sonics.  Portishead has set the bar high for any other mid-to-late nineties acts looking to reunite, motivated by their overdue cable bills or otherwise, by placing a great deal of faith in their fans to embrace their new yet old sound.  While the likes of Scott Weiland and Billy Corgan will inevitably bow their heads in shame at their attempts to imitate the pass, this trio can hold their heads high looking into an exciting future.

- Brother Amur