Album Review : Portishead "Third"

After reading several reviews of Portishead's Third, one thing was glaringly obvious; Portishead fans were polarized from top to bottom, either hating it or calling it the greatest album of 2008. After all, we've been waiting 10 years for this one.

I definitely fell somewhere between those two opinions, lost somewhere between confusion and inspiration. This album quite simply wore me out. I listened to Third around ten or fifteen times before I felt I was entitled to an opinion. Two weeks later and I think I finally got it, and subsequently fell into the latter group of fans by saying this is one of the best albums of 2008.

Third has a very organic sound to it which has disappointed many Portishead fans. Gone are the hip, jazzy hooks and tight, sizzling drum beats, and what's left is something that sounds like a mix between a Beth Gibbons solo project and something more experimental. Some of the songs seem to go absolutely nowhere, and that's fine, but I couldn't help but be annoyed when those big parts I was expecting just never really developed.

However, the more I listened (and forgot about the previous two Portishead albums) the more I was able to allow the subtleties of Third to affect me. Those subtleties include oddly timed injections of purposeful, agitating sound such as the helicopter drone on "Plastic", the guitar note that is mostly picked out of time during "Silence", Beth's intense, warbling notes at the end of "Threads", and the never-ending high drone of "something" throughout "We Carry On." All of these things juxtaposed against a canvass of various lo-fi drums, clav keys, and Beth's fragile yet cutting vocals make for an interesting mix. It took me a long time to get used to the general acoustic-ness of the album. There is less trip-hoppy fare and more of the deep hippy-doom poetry that Beth seems to have graduated to. There are a lot of buildups without payoffs, but that alone can be effective in itself.

One thing is certain, Beth Gibbons is still an uncompromising poet, a soul on fire, unfathomable in her dark verses

Favorite Track: "The Rip" is my favorite song on this album. The song starts out reminiscent, again, of the Out Of Seasons album by Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man. On this song, Beth is supported by a classically lined guitar part, and the lyrics are particularly moving:

"Through the glory of life
I will scatter on the floor
Disappointed and sore
And in my thoughts I have bled
For the riddles I've been fed
Another lie moves over" - Gibbons

The meaning of the lyrics is hard to decipher, with best guesses ranging from Beth's feelings towards another woman and her attempts to cope with the situation to her personal struggles as a recovering heroin addict (that Beth has ever used drugs has not been proven as far as I know). I personally agree with the drug addiction theory. Lyrics like the following seem to have just too many drug references for me to let that one go, and my personal experience with a heroin user only supports my feelings on this.

"Wild white horses
they will take me away
and the tenderness I feel
will send the dog home to me
will I follow ?" - Gibbons

Recovering addicts are haunted by the question they must ask themselves every day: Will I fall backward into darkness once again?

The simple fact that there are a multitude of very good theories about these lyrics is proof that Beth Gibbons is a lyrical genius, and her words reverberate in the hearts of many people.

After the second verse of "The Rip", the song morphs into something faster and more earnest. The classical guitar line is replaced with lumbering yet forceful synths that basically mimic the same classical melody only now more confident and urgent. A drum beat, completely unlike the standard Portishead fare, builds quietly in the distance while Beth holds out the note on "...follow?" for an impossibly long time.

p.s. Agreed to by many Portishead fans, this song could be a sister song to Radiohead's "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi". There are definitely similarities, but I wouldn't associate the two any further than to say they seem to have the same kind of energy.

Most Interesting Track: The most interesting track on the album is "Machine Gun". A staccato, militaristic, machine gun-like snare (and various samples of the snare) comprise the bulk of this track. As the snare beating drones on, someone adjusts the affects on the pad so that it moves through various combinations of effects; electronica, natural and synthesized snare. At first I found this horribly annoying, but after some listens I realized that Portishead actually had a point to this. After awhile you start to hear subtle changes in the snare affect that indicate changes in a measure or the beginning of a change in the song. The snare "rapping" is not perfectly computerized and, in fact, is likely a human actually playing the drum through the entire song. Through the middle and end you start to realize the drum notes are just a touch behind the beat which creates a very hypnotic and powerful feel.

The rest of the album is populated with a unique blend of songs that are so unlike the songs on their previous two albums (Dummy and Portishead) that they seem to be just an echo of a band we once knew called Portishead.

Third is a disturbingly excellent album and masterfully done. It is an adventurous (and likely risky) effort by a band who many thought would have trouble filling their own shoes. If you're feeling adventurous and have the time to really dig into something then you'll want to pick this up. I think history will show this album as a defining moment in Portishead history, provided they continue making more albums.

9.5 out of 10