Basement rumblings

Portishead: "Portishead" (Go! Beat)

Three years after their slow-burning debut album, Dummy, Portishead finally release their long-awaited follow-up, giving the doyens of Dublin 4 something new to play at their dinner-parties. The partnership of Geoff Barrow and Beth Gibbons has created a dense, almost claustrophobic album, full of howling attic noises and deep rumblings from the basement. There are touches of film noir in the arrangements, and the scratchy samples are pushed to the fore, giving the sound a rain-swept, black-and-white effect. By all accounts, Portishead suffered from "difficult second album" syndrome, with Barrow reportedly unsure of how to follow up the enormous success of Dummy. He seems to have decided to stick with the original blueprint, retaining the unmistakable Portishead sound, while adding some subtle shades to the mix. Beth Gibbons's voice is even more intimate and pained, as she sways around the slinky beats and smoky, jazzy vibes. In other words, it's the patented Portishead sound, uncomfortable and otherworldly, the sound of a wounded angel trapped in a haunted house. Gibbons is particularly impassioned on tracks like Undenied, Half Day Closing and Mourning Air, and the arrangements wrap around her voice like a shroud. Seven Months, Only You and Elysium are torch songs which seem in constant danger of sputtering out, yet still manage to smoulder.