Live albums are tricky beasts. Nail them and you create a spectacular document of a moment in time, don’t and you produce something that is the very definition of a “fans only” release. Remix albums are even trickier. For every great remix record there are a dozen or more totally pointless ones. By pairing together these two concepts then, Portico Quartet are putting themselves straight in the firing line. Last year’s fantastic self-titled record moved them up in the world, and their star is flying about as high right now as any experimental jazz outfit in the UK is ever going to fly in this day and age.
The live side of this double record accentuates, in many ways, the breathy expansiveness of the band’s standard soundscaping. There is a fair amount of open deviation from the studio versions of most of the tracks on offer, but nevertheless the band are served well by their attention to detail in capturing the, at times deceptive, depth of their recorded output. To do this in the live arena is no mean feat and so, despite the slightly extended improvised sections that are attached to some pieces (predominantly those off second album ‘Isla’) it is the electro-acoustic sound worlds of tracks like ‘Ruin’ that still remain the highlights of this live disc. No doubt ‘Steepless’, the band’s collaboration with Swedish vocalist Cornelia will grab plenty of attention, but here it serves almost to displeasingly break the atmosphere built up by previous tracks, which is somewhat unfortunate.
The remix disc is, as you would expect, hit and miss. With the likes of SBTRKT and Konx-om-Pax on board you would expect some pretty interesting results but every track is rendered somewhat mute by a seeming insistence on ensuring that everything still sounds like Portico Quartet, which seems to defeat the point. Nevertheless there are some engaging moments. LV briefly provides some enhanced club vibes with his work on ‘City of Glass’ and Will Ward enhances the already superb ambience of ‘Window Seat’. Overall though one senses that the band’s own forays deeper into more electronic terrain will prove far more interesting when they arrive.
The fundamental point of ‘Live / Remix’ is that it is only ever going to appeal to fans of Portico Quartet’s previous work. The live disc is clearly made up of particularly well performed cuts, and serves its purpose. The remix disc cannot help but feel somewhat underwhelming considering the talent involved, but such is par for the course. Nevertheless, if the magnificence of the two studio records are not enough for you, then this remains an essential purchase.
‘Live / Remix’ is out now via Real World. Portico Quartet play London’s Koko on 17th March.
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The live side of this double record accentuates, in many ways, the breathy expansiveness of the band’s standard soundscaping. There is a fair amount of open deviation from the studio versions of most of the tracks on offer, but nevertheless the band are served well by their attention to detail in capturing the, at times deceptive, depth of their recorded output. To do this in the live arena is no mean feat and so, despite the slightly extended improvised sections that are attached to some pieces (predominantly those off second album ‘Isla’) it is the electro-acoustic sound worlds of tracks like ‘Ruin’ that still remain the highlights of this live disc. No doubt ‘Steepless’, the band’s collaboration with Swedish vocalist Cornelia will grab plenty of attention, but here it serves almost to displeasingly break the atmosphere built up by previous tracks, which is somewhat unfortunate.
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