Portishead: Third LP

The highly anticipated Third is the first studio album from Portishead in over ten years and it incorporates atmospheric samples, synthesizers and drum tracks with seamless violin and piano flourishes. Haunting, emotional, moody, raw and modern, Third is an incredible return!

Portishead was formed in Bristol, U.K. in 1991 by Geoff Barrow, Beth Gibbons and Adrian Utley. After releasing a short film entitled To Kill A Dead Man and its accompanying music, they were signed to a record deal with Go! Beat Records.

Portishead’s first album, Dummy, was released in 1994 and the first single was “Numb”. The album was successful in both Europe and the United States (where it sold more than 150,000 copies even before the band toured there). Dummy spawned two hit singles, “Glory Box” and “Sour Times,” and went on to win the prestigious Mercury Music Prize in 1995.

After their initial success, Portishead withdrew from the spotlight for three years until their second and self titled album, Portishead, was released in 1997. The album’s sound differed from Dummy, the main differences being that much of the music was composed and played by the band, not sampled from records, and had a grainy, harsher sound. Three singles, “Cowboys,” “Over” and “All Mine” were released, the latter achieving a Top 10 placing in the U.K.

In 1997, the band performed a one-off show with strings by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra at Roseland Ballroom in New York. A live album primarily featuring these new orchestral arrangements of the group’s songs was released in 1998. For the next few years, the band members concentrated on solo and other pursuits, until in February of 2005, the band appeared live for the first time in seven years at the Tsunami Benefit Concert in Bristol.