{"product_id":"monument-1","title":"Monument","description":"\u003cp\u003eIt's rare that a band releases two albums within six months of each other, rarer too that while both are so different, they are both as epochal in terms of the band's output as \u003cem\u003eTerrain\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eMonument\u003c\/em\u003e are to \u003cstrong\u003ePortico Quartet\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe irony is that \u003cem\u003eMonument\u003c\/em\u003e, a stripped-back, intentionally direct album, was the album that the band set out to write in May 2020, before the dream-like long-form \u003cem\u003eTerrain\u003c\/em\u003e came into focus. Briefly they were two halves of the same record, but the band ended up developing these two distinct bodies of work concurrently.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnd although they were written side-by-side and recorded at the same sessions, they are records best understood as distinct from each other, each with opposing ideas and forms. \u003cem\u003eMonument\u003c\/em\u003e is one of Portico Quartet's most accessible, direct records to date.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf \u003cem\u003eTerrain\u003c\/em\u003e addressed the darker side of how Duncan Bellamy and Jack Wyllie made sense of the pandemic, then \u003cem\u003eMonument\u003c\/em\u003e resonates as an ode to better times. If not quite a dance record, it nonetheless pulses with an energy, radiance, and a scalpel-sharp focus.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eJack Wyllie explains: \"It's possibly our most direct album to date. It's melodic, structured, and there's an economy to it that is very efficient. There's not much searching or wastage within the music itself, it is all finalised ideas, precisely sculpted and presented as a polished artefact.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBellamy expands \"Monument sits somewhere between our albums \u003cem\u003ePortico Quartet\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eArt in the Age of Automation\u003c\/em\u003e. It has perhaps a more overtly electronic edge to its sound – there are more synthesisers and electronic elements than we have used before and the music is often streamlined and rhythmic\".\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAfter the ethereal, stage-setting of Opening, the album kicks into overdrive with \"\u003cem\u003eImpressions\u003c\/em\u003e\", a short energetic track that pairs a club influenced groove with hang drum and close, delicate saxophone. It's the balance between these elements that push and pull the track through a selection of melodic and rhythmic re-configurations, contrasting human touch with a machine-like focus.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Ultraviolet\" is a kaleidoscopic, krautrock inspired track with a haunting introduction and an insistent pulse. The wistful \"\u003cem\u003eEver Present\u003c\/em\u003e\" builds from a simple piano refrain; a nostalgic melody line floats over the top as drums and bass groove insistently underneath, before reaching a euphoric peak.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe title track \u003cem\u003eMonument\u003c\/em\u003e builds around a looping vocal sample, drums and an enigmatic melody, the ending giving way to a gauzy, weaving synth line. The power here is in its economy and luminosity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"AOE\" flips back and forth, like a dial that's been switched. Mining the tension between a pastoral inflected cello and saxophone melody, with an abrupt shift to jilted live drums, wailing delayed saxophone and a flickering synth line.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Warm Data\" comes straight from the same Portico Quartet tradition as older tracks like \"Current History\" and \"Laker-Boo\". It's a marriage of instrumental minimalism with drum machines and synths.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFinally, the album closes with \"On The Light\", a track that transmits a sense of suspense and freedom, driven by the twitching drums of Bellamy and evocative sax of Wyllie. It offers the perfect bitter-sweet and evocative ending to Portico Quartet's latest \u003cem\u003eMonument\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gondwana Records","offers":[{"title":"CD.","offer_id":50386266489163,"sku":"1130859","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Clear | LP","offer_id":50386267078987,"sku":"1130861","price":28.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50386268651851,"sku":"2215237","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50386267636043,"sku":"1142361","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50386268094795,"sku":"1130860","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/b86bcc79-03af-4ed0-b346-8ce96a858d9f_thumbnail_4096.png?v=1726323063","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/products\/monument-1","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}