Sunday, October 23, 2011

Portugal The Man "In The Mountain In The Cloud"


Discovered this band a few years ago through a 2008 year-end "Best Of..." list.  Tried it and liked it enough to add it as one of my Mad Rocker's best discoveries of the year (that's the very first post for the blog...no link, just go look if you're really that interested).  PTM is a prolific bunch, releasing an album a year in their history.  Somehow I completely missed the '09 model, and 2010's "American Ghetto" was a similar, yet different piece, and now "Mountain, Cloud" takes another step in the advancement of their sound.  First of all, they are finally on a major, having earned their way through the DIY method.  What I don't understand is how a major would allow one of their recordings sound as if it was done inside a Progresso soup can.  I'm guessing they let the band have free reign and it's intentional, but I found it quite distracting initially.  They sound much better in the radio station studio setting in the following clip...



Man, that song is infectious.  I haven't been able to get it out of my head since first hearing it.  I still like my "glam-less Scissor Sisters" comparison from the earlier PTM post, and this time I've added Supertramp to the "sounds like" list, primarily due to the vocals.  I also wrote down 10cc this time, which is the next step in the progression of PTM's sound.  Over the course of their six-year existence, they have morphed into something slightly different each time...and me likey.  They get the "neo-psychedelic" label from most publications, and I suppose that's appropriate.  In one track they drop these lines; "We're seven miles high", "All the kids are rubber souls", and "All of the things that have come to pass."  Those are certainly more my generation (hey, that's funny) than the band's.

Maybe if I invested a listen after selected party favours I'd better understand the "psychedelic."

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