Review by: Sanjiv Ahluwalia

Portico Quartet – Isla

There is a particular English sensibility when it comes to jazz, and none more so than from the bands Zed-U and Portico Quartet.

Jazz from these shores often has a particular British twist often reflecting the unique UK environment, from the urban dynamism of Soweto Kinch to the soft, Cornish melodies of John Surman. Artists as diverse as Courtney Pine to Kaidi Tatham have a distinct English voice, related but still distant from their American jazz cousins. The new Zed-U album follows suit, where post punk clashes with avant garde jazz herded around a rich tapestry of lazy rolling hills of harmony. The aforementioned John Surman is name checked in the album credits and has no less than two tracks named after him.

The album has an undeniable edge to it. The opener ‘The Forest’, like the name suggests, has a wonderful sense of a brooding walk into a forest, whilst ‘Roki’ initially carries on this pleasant feel only to give way to a more ‘forcible’ feel.

Zed U – Night Time At The Middle Passage

‘Night Time on the Middle Passage’ has an amazing array of sounds and textures, offering the listener seemingly contradictory sound and effects often on the same track. This is a memorable album, which will stand up as one of the year’s best, helped in no small part to the mixing skills of 2 Banks of Four’s Demus. Highly recommended.

Portico Quartet take the English jazz avenue even further with their new album ‘Isla’ mixing earthy tones with ambient electronic sweeps. The music is given a unique twist with the distinct sound of the Hang (a sort of space age steel drum), a Portico Quartet trademark. The album is striking in its deepness of sound and is both engaging and ethereal. Opening track, ‘Mass Charge and Spin’ has a rural Scottish feel yet at the same time has touches of the East, its plucking string sound giving a gentle running theme. ‘Line’ is the standout tracking, a mélange of ambient soundscapes with a jazz sensibility, the track owes a debt to both Aphex Twin and Steve Reich though probably sits closer to home with Australian electronic jazz protagonists The Necks. The serene ‘Life Mask interlude’ follows, a welcome injection of solo piano after the electronic stylings of the previous track.

Portico Quartet received many plaudits for their Mercury nominated debut; this album deserves to at least equal that success.