Art in the Age of Automation

Portico's rejuvenated quartet status brings with it more of the jazz-influenced stylings that first made their name, [Oct 2017, p.36]

This is vaulting, widescreen soundscaping of the first water. [Oct 2017, p.92]

Their music is always beautifully rendered, and there is plenty of interest for the listener, but the hang, their most distinctive weapon, feels underused, its tones not bought into the foreground as much as might be expected.

Saxophonist Jack Wylie rarely improvises in any meaningful way. Instead, his languorous lead lines are pitched somewhere between Arve Henriksen’s FX-laden trumpet and Graham Massey’s soprano sax in 808 State. But among the rather snoozy trance dirges are some delicious moments.

Art In The Age Of Automation finds the group expanding their sound to accommodate strings and horns alongside their core armoury of drums, bass, keys, sax and hang, the latter’s steel-pan timbres pleasingly sprinkled over the slow drift of “Objects To Place In A Tomb” and prominently featured in “Beyond Dialogue”, two of the better tracks.