Portico Quartet

Terrain

Gondwana
23.95 €
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Portico Quartet announce Terrain, a three-part suite drawing on American minimalism and ambient music alongside their own rich heritage as they explore new musical vistas When Duncan Bellamy and Jack Wyllie – the driving force behind Portico Quartet got together in their East London studio in May 2020 and started work on the music that would become their new album, the world, or most of it, was in the midst of the first lockdown. The unique impact of the events of 2020 became the backdrop to their time composing and recording; causing them to take stock, re-think, and plot a new musical path. Indian novelist Arundhati Roy expressed the sense of grief and rupture from the pandemic as "a portal, a gateway between one world and the next", and as they created the music that would become Terrain they were drawn towards longer, slowly unfolding pieces, which are perhaps the most artistically free and also the most beautiful they have ever made. These are compositions more in the lineage of Line and Shed Song (Isla/2009), Rubidium (Portico Quartet/2012) and Immediately Visible (Memory Streams/2019). Wyllie expands: "We've always had this side of the band in some form. The core of it is having a repeated pattern, around which other parts move in and out, and start to form a narrative. We used to do longer improvisations not dissimilar to this around the time of our second record Isla. On Terrain we've really dug into it and explored that form. I suppose there are obvious influences such as American minimalism, but I was particularly inspired by the work of Japanese composer Midori Takada. Her approach, particularly on 'Through the Looking Glass', where she moves through different worlds incorporating elements of minimalism with non-Western instruments and melodies were at the front of my mind when writing this music". Terrain I, II & III are all subtly different, but a short rhythmic motif that repeats is the starting point in all three movements. There is a sense of a shared journey to all these pieces, they move through different worlds, with a sense of horizontal movement that lends the music real momentum. Terrain I was the first piece they worked on and it started with a hang drum pattern, improvised by Bellamy, who added cymbals and synthesiser. From there on it grew, Wyllie adding saxophone, another synthesiser section, strings. For Bellamy "It felt more like filmmaking than music making, a bricolage of conflicting, shifting signs, subtle tension and multiple narratives. Andrei Tarkovsky's 'Mirror' and British artist John Akomfrah's incredible 'Handsworth Songs' were pivotal points of reference for me." Wyllie expands the point. "There is a sense of conversation between us both, in that someone presents a musical idea, the other person responds to it with something else, which would then be responded to again... until it feels finished. These responses are often consonant with each other but there is also a dissonance to some of this work. The music slowly evolves through these shared conversations." It is this sense of dialogue, both between the composers, and between tranquillity and a subtly unsettling melancholy, that makes Terrain such a powerful statement. One that speaks to both our interior and exterior worlds, to our own personal landscape, to our Terrain.

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Details

Genre

Jazz

Release Date

28.05.2021

Cat No

GONDLP042

Tracklist

Track 1
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Track 2
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Track 3
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Contemporary Jazz
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12"
Portico Quartet
15.95 €
Next Stop - EP (Colored Vinyl) Gondwana
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Jazz
12"
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Portico Quartet
15.95 €
Next Stop - EP (Colored Vinyl) Gondwana
Contemporary Jazz
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12"
Portico Quartet
15.95 €
Next Stop - EP Gondwana
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Jazz
12"
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Portico Quartet
15.95 €
Next Stop - EP Gondwana
Jazz
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2-LP
Portico Quartet
28.95 €
Monument Gondwana
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2-LP
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Portico Quartet
28.95 €
Monument Gondwana
Jazz
2-LP
Portico Quartet
30.95 €
Monument (Colored) Gondwana
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2-LP
Portico Quartet
30.95 €
Monument (Colored) Gondwana
Jazz
LP
Portico Quartet
25.95 €
Terrain (Clear Vinyl) Gondwana
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LP
Portico Quartet
25.95 €
Terrain (Clear Vinyl) Gondwana
Jazz
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7"
Portico Quartet
11.95 €
Endless / Undercurrent Gondwana
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7"
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Portico Quartet
11.95 €
Endless / Undercurrent Gondwana
Jazz
EP
Matthew HalsSal
26.95 €
Bright Sparkling Light EP Gondwana
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Jazz
EP
Matthew HalsSal
26.95 €
Bright Sparkling Light EP Gondwana
Contemporary Jazz
LP
Svaneborg Kardyb
23.95 €
At Home EP Gondwana
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Jazz
LP
Svaneborg Kardyb
23.95 €
At Home EP Gondwana
Jazz
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2-LP
Ancient Infinity Orchestra
37.95 €
River Of Light - Clear Vinyl Edition Gondwana
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Jazz
2-LP
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Ancient Infinity Orchestra
37.95 €
River Of Light - Clear Vinyl Edition Gondwana
Contemporary Jazz
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2-LP
Hania Rani
31.95 €
Ghosts Gondwana
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Jazz
2-LP
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Hania Rani
31.95 €
Ghosts Gondwana
Jazz
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2-LP
Matthew Halsall
33.95 €
An Ever Changing View Gondwana
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Jazz
2-LP
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Matthew Halsall
33.95 €
An Ever Changing View Gondwana
Jazz
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2-LP + mp3
Matthew Halsall
33.95 €
An Ever Changing View (TRANSPARENT Clear Colored) Gondwana
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Jazz
2-LP + mp3
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Matthew Halsall
33.95 €
An Ever Changing View (TRANSPARENT Clear Colored) Gondwana
Electro
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12"
Humanoid
12.95 €
St8818r Humanoid (Luke Vibert / Autechre / Mike Dred rmxs) De:Tuned
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Electro
12"
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Humanoid
12.95 €
St8818r Humanoid (Luke Vibert / Autechre / Mike Dred rmxs) De:Tuned
Jazz
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LP
Maston
26.95 €
Panorama (KPM) Be With
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Jazz
LP
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Maston
26.95 €
Panorama (KPM) Be With
Breakbeatz
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12"
Asquith
14.95 €
Let Me Asquith
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Techno
12"
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Asquith
14.95 €
Let Me Asquith
House
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12"
Deetron
11.95 €
Mind Eclipse Ep Running Back
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House
12"
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Deetron
11.95 €
Mind Eclipse Ep Running Back
Indie / Alternative
EP
Mando Diao
21.95 €
Stop The Train Playground
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Rock / Pop / Indie
EP
Mando Diao
21.95 €
Stop The Train Playground
Jazz-Funk
LP
Azymuth
36.95 €
Light As A Feather (Lim. Sky Blue Vinyl) Far Out
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Jazz
LP
Azymuth
36.95 €
Light As A Feather (Lim. Sky Blue Vinyl) Far Out