third (portishead)
I am not a big fan of this album. Maybe I just need to give it more time, I only listened to it today, a few times. But generally I found it unnerving and mopey. Maybe that's what they're going for. But I didn't like it; in fact, I felt genuinely a little relieved when it was done. Very few of the songs are really memorable, it's pretty much in one ear and out the other. Sorry if that sounds bitter- really, I didn't hate it- but I'm tired.
This record has a cool sound- an eerie, intense, buzzing sound- but the vocals I found frail and anxious and sad to the point of becoming annoying. This is the sort of record that, listening to it one song at a time, I can appreciate the song. But the intensity of the album is exhausting and discouraging. "Silence" is a good example- a nice, anxious, driven beat; it's a good, dark, buzzing jam- until the vocals come in, and then it gets less likable. But overall this song is salvaged, I think. "The Rip" starts acoustic and grows in some cool, electric/synth directions. "Machine Gun," with its brutal industrial sound, grew on me. Individually it's interesting but deep inside an already dreary album, it becomes crushing. And "Nylon Smile" has a pulsing, mysterious energy to it that lends a certain appeal.
Overall: nervy, creepy… not my thing. I liked their first album much much more.
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