By Alex Pearson
After the release of the Danger Mouse-produced Evil Friends in 2013, Portugal. The Man retreated again to the studio with the Beastie Boys’ Mike D for three years to worry over the purported follow up ‘Gloomin + Doomin’. This record, though, was ultimately scratched very near its completion, and a fateful reassessment of the band’s musical message lead to the revolutionary-minded street-pop of their eighth studio album, ‘Woodstock’ after vocalist/guitarist John Gourley came upon his dad’s ticket stub from the original 1969 Woodstock Festival.
Even if the band used most of the material from ‘Gloomin + Doomin’, Gourley said “it was just a change of focus” with the current political and social attitudes in America the band decide to stay “honest and thematic”.
Kicking off the album is ‘Number One’ and a sample from the late Richie Havens and a collaboration with R&B artist Son Little and when combined, the effect is particularly haunting. Bringing in a new deep 80s-punk/pop the band has found a new footing from their melodic indie pop. ‘Number One’ retains the band’s firm grasp on sultry grooves, stemming from the velvety rhythmic lockdown of drummer Jason Sechrist and bassist Zach Carothers.
‘Rich Friends’ flick on the guitar riffs in their LP which sizzles in a party anthem with a hard rock beat and smooth fast lyrics adding soulful howl before strutting into its funky beats. In the past, Portugal. The Man has brought the heat with lyrics perfect for belting in your car when you think no one can hear you, but with a chorus like “I can really, really, use a rich rich friend like you” there’s an addiction of the old and wealthy to sponge off the young and hungry.
The psych-pop ‘Feel It Still’ will get you singing along in no time. Horns and a punching bass add up to a swinging slice of psych-pop over the chorus, “Ooh woo, I’m a rebel just for kicks, now. I been feeling it since 1966, now” is just the perfect dose of funk. Whereas ‘So Young’ is more relaxed in sound and even a bit experimental at some points, and we’re betting it foreshadows some more great work from them ahead.
We take it down a notch with ‘Mr Lonley’ and ‘Tidal Wave’, two track you can happily sit out in the garden an chill to all day. Deep bellowing synth and bass guitar is a funky cocktail of mystery and deception, a slow-burn of ambient rock that emerges a less overt overhaul of the band’s core strengths, and also its best approximation of urban hip-hop.
Portugal. The Man’s ‘Woodstock’ is a marvelous creation that has taken three years to perfect, who knows they might release the tracks they missed off this album and save them for the next LP. Woodstock ought to overshadow those kinds of seductive inquiries. As the album of record, it does appropriately record Portugal. The Man’s unabashed musical evolution and experimentation from album to album. Despite its country, peaceful namesake, it’s a distinctly grimy vivisection of millennial pop specifically positioned to act as the revolutionary frontline for a generation of the disillusioned.
Check out our interview with Portugal. The Man here!
