When a band that’s been long established decides to release an album eponymously, they run the risk of defining what they are as a band. An artist is given more leeway on their first album, where the self-titled album is designed to get an artists name out there, more than to define what they’re about. Portico Quartet chose the self titled route on their third album, and while it could be detrimental to the band’s musical image, they’re still putting forth that genuine sound that they established on their previous records. The big difference on this record is in the band’s continued reliance on electronic sounds, leaving behind a little of that traditional jazz sound. Many fans will be upset, but this album succeeds in putting forth an array of sounds that are wonderful to experience.

Right from the start, Portico Quartet feels like a night out on the town in Europe. It feels very terrestrial, and at home in your favorite club. The opening track, “Window Seat” brings to mind film music set to a POV shot of someone riding in the backseat of a car, with a bunch of cut sequences layered within. It’s a lazy, lucid track that does it’s best to prepare the listener for a great ride complete with electronic strings and what sounds like a distorted saw. The Second track, “Ruins” begins with a sustaining bass lick coupled with a simple drum beat. This leads into a soaring saxophone solo that is smokey and moody. The track “Rubidium” starts out as this simple, smooth jazz tune that leads into a drum and electronic sounding freak out, Art Blakey style!

On the downside, a few of these tracks are a bit too lazy, and go nowhere. The track, “Lacker Boo” stays mid tempo the whole time, not really experimenting much with sound. It also samples what sounds like the electronic version of a bicycle horn towards the end of the track, which feels a little strange to the song. “4096 Colours” suffers from the same thing; it’s very mid-tempo and instead of building, just gets louder at certain points. The track, “Steepless,” features a vocal from Sweedish singer Cornelia Dahlgren, but feels very out of place in terms of where it’s located on the album. This track should have been moved towards the beginning of the album; it would have appealed to a larger audience by doing so.

If Portico Quartet are choosing to define what they are as a band on this release, they did a great job. This album cuts through it’s bad moments to give you memorable great ones. The array of sounds that this group uses, opens the band up to a wide variety of options to explore on future albums. That may upset the traditional jazz fans, but even for them this is a worthwhile, worthy piece of music, worthy of the jazz canon.

Album Rating: Buy It on CD or Vinyl

Listening Co-efficient: Passive Listen

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