London jazz minimalists spy land ahoy with their exploratory new album
Terrain is a slightly odd choice of name for Portico Quartet’s new album in one respect. Water seems to play a key timbral role on the album, either represented in endless raining droplets from Duncan Bellamy’s ride cymbal, the softer splashes of the quartet’s signature hang handpan, or the increasingly fashionable ‘wobbly’ synth pads that give the impression of downing a few shots on the back of a fishing boat. Surely this is a contradiction to the solidity of the earth, that
Terra from which the record’s title takes its name. My suggestion would be that the ‘terrain’ Portico Quartet speak of is malleable, multi-scalar; the rough surface of train seats holding equal significance to that of the Great Outdoors. It’s worth remembering also that under the firmness of the ground lie unfathomable oceans of liquid, supporting us all; terrain without solidity need not be perilous.