Happy 15th Anniversary to Portishead’s third studio album Third, originally released in the UK April 28, 2008 and in the US April 29, 2008.
The ‘90s were a genre-defining moment for music. From Nirvana’s grunge to N.W.A’s gangster rap, artists of that decade were bringing the spotlight to their tiny corners of the music world. For Portishead, this meant spreading the gospel of trip hop with two of the biggest albums of the decade—Dummy (1994) and their self-titled follow-up Portishead (1997).
So, it was a shock, when 10 years later in 2008, the group released Third, a complete departure from the genre that made them famous. Entirely self-produced, playing new instruments, and using analog synthesizers, there is a chaotic quality to Third versus the crisp sampling and perfect basslines of their previous work. But even though it is wildly different from their earlier offerings, it still fits nicely into their iconic catalog.
The trio of Geoff Barrow, Beth Gibbons and Adrian Utley had achieved international renown with their chart-topping ‘90s albums, but seemingly disappeared into solo projects and relative obscurity in the 2000s. Historically, this kind of break has been tough to pull off for musicians, retreating from an audience, especially when returning with something unfamiliar. Fans were lucky, though, in the case of Third, as it accomplished a rare feat. From the first tracks of the album, it’s obvious that even after taking a decade-long hiatus, Portishead were still just as groundbreaking as they were at the start of their career.
Despite abandoning the trip-hop motif, one that elevated Portishead to prominence while also saddling them with (in Barrow’s opinion) an unwelcome descriptor, Third is somehow distinctively Portishead. Beginning the album, “Silence” is short, ripping in and ending abruptly, almost coming as a relief as the track gets louder and louder. It’s a propulsive beat, a Krautrock hallmark that shows up throughout the album, like in the equally loud “We Carry On.” Both tracks are filled with gritty guitars and a cacophony of percussion, giving an experimental sheen like Sonic Youth or Scott Walker, uncomfortable but compelling. And while these tracks are miles away from the turntable work and juicy bass of the trip-hop era, Gibbons’ vocals are an indelible connective thread. What was sexy before, is now haunting, a beautiful application for her sorrowful voice.
It’s tough to choose standout tracks, as they vary so widely in tones and textures. “The Rip” is a production masterpiece, too complex for the analog synthesizers being used, so each note had to be recorded individually. This meticulous engineering is reminiscent of earlier projects, like how they would record their own beats only to sample from, like turning over every stone to create a perfect sound.
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The rest of the album is just as weird and wonderful. “Small” is a haunting dirge with a psychedelic breakdown, as if the Beach Boys had grown up in Bristol. “Deep Waters" is a twee acoustic interlude followed immediately by the brutal, ratatat bassline on “Machine Gun,” a dark industrial track. The heavy, manufactured sounds continue on “Plastic,” a track that sounds like someone swallowed a helicopter alongside a thumping, hypnotic drumbeat. In Third, there is a strong penchant for chaos and confusion, communicated by the dissonance throughout.
Third is a proper album, a cohesive listen from first track to the last. There are these special, memorable moments even between the songs. The quick cuts, like at the end of “Silence,” are in sharp contrast to other points in the album when one track seems to melt into the next, a certain texture flowing from one to the next. Like in the track “Nylon Smile”—a bongos and shaker combo might scream mid-‘90s “MTV Unplugged,” but when it’s sandwiched between inventive electronica, their inclusion feels far from dated.
Today, we have plenty of reclusive stars taking their time between albums (Frank Ocean and Rihanna come to mind), but it’s hard to imagine them returning to the charts with a completely new genre of music. It’s truly a special moment in time, a long-awaited release that no one could have predicted. Remarkably, Portishead was extremely consistent, yet perfectly unique. From Gibbons’ Billie Holiday-style vocals lending a rich, eerie quality to anything she touches, to Barrow’s virtuosity in production and constantly evolving style, Portishead made dramatic, evocative music in all of their iterations. If Dummy and Portishead were albums that sounded like sexy spy movies, Third is a horror film, full of homage and emotion, one that stuns and shocks, making it impossible to look away.
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