Portico Quartet - 4 Albums (2006-2009)

Portico Quartet are an instrumental band from London, UK. They are known for their use of the Hang, a modern percussion instrument. Their debut album, Knee-Deep in the North Sea, was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Prize and was Time Out’s Jazz, Folk and World album of the year 2007. The group consists of Duncan Bellamy (drums and electronics), Jack Wyllie (saxophones and keyboards), Milo Fitzpatrick (electric and double-bass) and Keir Vine (keyboards). Their name comes from when one of their early gigs was rained off in Italy and they ended up playing under a portico. All of the groups album covers, artwork and graphic design is done by the drummer, Duncan Bellamy, who has a degree in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins.

The band was formed from two groups of childhood friends (Jack Wyllie and Milo Fitzpatrick from Southampton, and Duncan Bellamy and Nick Mulvey from Cambridge) who met in 2005 while studying at university in London. Bellamy and Mulvey had originally spotted the hang at the Womad Festival.

The group initially honed their style by busking regularly outside the National Theatre on London’s Southbank. At the time they all lived together in a shared house with Jamie Woon. They were part of the One Taste Collective (with artists including Kate Tempest, Little Dragon and Jamie Woon).

In 2007 they signed to be the first release on the Vortex imprint of Babel Label. Their debut album, Knee-Deep in the North Sea, was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Prize and was Time Out’s Jazz, Folk and World music album of the year 2007.

They subsequently signed to Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records and released two albums: 2009’s Isla and 2012’s self-titled Portico Quartet.

In 2011 founding member Nick Mulvey left the group to pursue a career as a singer-songwriter. He was replaced by Kier Vine.

In 2014 the three remaining founder members signed to Ninja Tune under the name Portico and released the album Living Fields. They considered this to be a new group and radically changed their musical style to experimental electronic pop.

In 2017 the band announced that they had signed with Gondwana Records and that their fourth studio album as Portico Quartet - Art in the Age of Automation - will be released in August 2017.

Music style
The group predominantly makes modern instrumental music. They are known for the use of the hang, a modern percussion instrument. Their main influences are jazz, ambient and electronic music.

The band’s first two albums are largely acoustic recordings, reflecting their origins as a live busking band. These are based around the hang drum, double bass and drums, with the saxophone playing the melody line.

Nick Mulvey’s departure from the band in 2011 heralded a notable change in style. The group had already been exploring use of electronics, live samples and looping when touring their second album Isla in 2010. Without their main hang player, for their self-titled third studio album Portico Quartet the group turned to sampling the hang, as well as using a hybrid mix of electronic and acoustic drums, and electronically treated and looped bowed bass and saxophone lines.

The Living Fields album featured another change style, focused on experimental electronic pop music rather than instrumental compositions. Reflecting this the group chose to release it under the name Portico rather than Portico Quartet, considering it to be a separate band.




Track List:
01. Gaia (6:24)
02. Canal Boats (4:09)
03. (Somethings Going Down On) Zavodovski Island (4:19)
04. November (5:47)
05. Prickly Pear (5:21)
06. Cittagázzé (4:35)
07. Knee Deep In The North Sea (3:12)




The album was very well received on its release. It was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Prize and was Time Out Magazine’s Jazz, Folk and World album of the year 2007.

The week after the Mercury Prize awards show it debuted on the UK Top 200 Albums Chart at #186.

The album was praised for its sense of melody. All About Jazz wrote that it is “mellifluous, exuberant and jaunty, full of catchy tunes and strong hooks” and Drowned in Sound called it “remarkably restrained for a debut record…melodies are carefully thought-out and arranged for the greatest dramatic effect”.

Other reviews highlighted the album’s atmosphere and combination of influences, Music OMH highlighted that “where the quartet succeed is in the atmosphere they steadily build up throughout the album, with each track also working on its own as a mini-suite of contrasting moods”. The 405 called it “an incredibly diverse album…refreshing to hear such beautifully layered, complex sounds created with instruments alone”, and Contact Music described it as “a finely constructed masterpiece…blending influence of contemporary classical and film composers (Philip Glass and Steve Reich et al) and world musical cultures”.

Track List:
01. News From Verona (4:24)
02. (Somethings Going Down On) Zavodovski Island (4:23)
03. Knee-Deep In The North Sea (4:52)
04. Too Many Cooks (5:32)
05. Steps In The Wrong Direction (6:10)
06. Monsoon- Top To Bottom (4:14)
07. The Kon Tiki Expedition (4:29)
08. Cittagazze (4:47)
09. Pompidou (12:02)




Track List:
01. Dawn Pontrol (6:20)
02. News From Verona pt.2 (6:42)
03. Untitled (5:06)
04. The Full Catastrophe (8:24)
05. Midnite Delite (6:07)
06. Johnson (5:02)
07. November (7:43)




Isla received widespread international acclaim upon its release.

The Observer highlighted their development in sound and that the album had “exceeded the unreasonable expectations prompted by their impressive debut…it is better focused and better executed…genuinely innovative”.

Other reviewers noted the albums darker tone compared to its predecessor. Jazzwise commenting that it was a “highly atmospheric album” with a “haunting sonic texture” and “brooding ambience” that “is much more focused in intent”. The BBC described a “deepier, scarier world” and Music OMH called it “hypnotic, sultry and mesmorising”.

The album was also acclaimed for its fusing of genres. The Washington Post praised this “quietly impassioned set of originals that fuse elements of pop, jazz, classical and electronics music…wholly original, 21st century experimentalism that stirs both body and soul”. Pop Matters wrote that “It’s one thing to crisscross musical genres. It’s another to make it sound like second nature” and Mojo highlighted the albums “glorious eclecticism…Isla feeds on Steve Reich mathematics, Radiohead dread, African desert grooves and ECM northern melancholy”.

Track List:
01. Paper Scissors Stone (5:27)
02. The Visitor (5:31)
03. Dawn Patrol (6:00)
04. Line (7:29)
05. Life Mask (Interlude) (1:16)
06. Clipper (6:31)
07. Life Mask (7:17)
08. Isla (5:09)
09. Shed Song (Improv. No 1) (8:23)