This is a moody and mature album. It has very sharp points to make about life, love, maturity and the way the state of the world affects us and our emotions.
Portland have chosen to house the music within the trip hop genre. The lyrics positively fizz and swagger with venom, recalling modern-day folkies like Noah And The Whale or Mumford And Sons.
The trip hop setting provides a sympathetic bed, causing you to linger long over each of them. You’ll be building up mini-movies in your head to go with them. This is particularly true of songs such as ‘Expectations’, ‘You Misread Me’ and ‘Moonlit’.
They know how to be funny and sad at the same time. Most importantly, they make you laugh as well. And because of that and the quality of the tunes, it’s a truly joyous album.