I guess I disagree with "beautifully recorded" as well.
Expectation is a piece of my dislike, but I don't think I would like the album regardless of the name attached to it. In fact, I think I would even more immediately dismiss it. I guess I had hoped that they had progressed 10 years, but to me, this album sounds like a hack revival of Portishead with an artificial attempt to experiment on the theme. I feel like maybe they decided they needed to do the same thing, but somehow make it different, which seems to have resulted in the layering feeling awkward and really repetitive (intentionally so on their part). I guess it's just a departure I don't like.
Just to cite examples, the first song "Silence" is probably the most annoying sounding song I've heard all year, with all the loops having weird flowing syncopation. It makes me want to call the song uninspired jazz. I have to make an effort not to skip it. "Hunter" starts out okay, but then it has randomly interspersed noises that totally detract from it. The main loop in "Machine Gun," like "Hunter" is really tedious on the ears. The entire way the album is mixed makes it really tiring to listen to. I don't mean emotionally, I mean that it just gives me a headache. The sonic choices are all just distracting from the underlying songs, which anyway, I think are not very good (do yourself a favor and don't read the lyrics). I just worry that Portishead decided they needed to "experiment" and it led to bad things. I mean "Magic Doors" starts out with a pure tone and then goes into cowbells! It's just not what I want to put in my ears.
Anyway, I don't say this to contradict you or clash with your thoughts on the record. As I said earlier, I am genuinely thrilled if people like it, but I just don't find it even listenable.
Reviews
the sleepwalker said on April 30, 2008:
I guess I disagree with "beautifully recorded" as well.
Expectation is a piece of my dislike, but I don't think I would like the album regardless of the name attached to it. In fact, I think I would even more immediately dismiss it. I guess I had hoped that they had progressed 10 years, but to me, this album sounds like a hack revival of Portishead with an artificial attempt to experiment on the theme. I feel like maybe they decided they needed to do the same thing, but somehow make it different, which seems to have resulted in the layering feeling awkward and really repetitive (intentionally so on their part). I guess it's just a departure I don't like.
Just to cite examples, the first song "Silence" is probably the most annoying sounding song I've heard all year, with all the loops having weird flowing syncopation. It makes me want to call the song uninspired jazz. I have to make an effort not to skip it. "Hunter" starts out okay, but then it has randomly interspersed noises that totally detract from it. The main loop in "Machine Gun," like "Hunter" is really tedious on the ears. The entire way the album is mixed makes it really tiring to listen to. I don't mean emotionally, I mean that it just gives me a headache. The sonic choices are all just distracting from the underlying songs, which anyway, I think are not very good (do yourself a favor and don't read the lyrics). I just worry that Portishead decided they needed to "experiment" and it led to bad things. I mean "Magic Doors" starts out with a pure tone and then goes into cowbells! It's just not what I want to put in my ears.
Anyway, I don't say this to contradict you or clash with your thoughts on the record. As I said earlier, I am genuinely thrilled if people like it, but I just don't find it even listenable.