Published on Dec 22, 2005
When Dr. Dre is a fan of a band because of its beats,
that says something. When that band is a down-tempo duo from
Bristol whose songs run a bit slower than an all-day C-SPAN
marathon, that REALLY says something. But that’s the effect that
Dummy had on its listeners.
Portishead was part of the UK trip-hop scene in the
early ’90s (primarily focused in Bristol). Their debut album may
not have revolutionized music like Massive Attack’s Blue
Lines or made it rock star-compatible like the Chemical
Brothers did with Dig Your Own Hole in 1997. It didn’t need
to — it merely had to be a great album.
The first thing you notice when you listen to
Portishead is a weird chill in your forearms. Keyboardist Geoff
Barrow and singer Beth Gibbons layer Dummy with jazzy
structures and film-noir soundtrack effects, giving a sound that is
too sophisticated to be lumped into stoner chill-out music. “Glory
Box” and “Wandering Star” have a lumbering pace that somehow
manages to keep listeners entranced.
It’s hard to believe that a little more than ten
years ago, the popular music scene in the United States could
welcome a morose, sulky song like “Sour Times” into their music
charts. After “Sour Times” comes the most up-tempo song on
Dummy, the plodding, pulsating “Strangers.” The looped beat
sounds like a slow march through six inches of snow. The slowness
of the tracks may be off-putting to some listeners more accustomed
to Bjork or Massive Attack, but Gibbons’ morose intensity will reel
you in.
Dummy has been classified as a trip-hop album,
but unlike other trip-hop albums, Dummy won’t get you on the
dance floor. Instead, the album begs for privacy and
full-immersion. It can be a demanding listen, but an ultimately
rewarding experience, just as Dr. Dre. The only real weakness of
the album is the tendency for some of the songs toward the end of
the album to sound too similar to one another (save the amazing
closer “Glory Box”).
The lyrics on Dummy are, for the most part,
about disappointment and emotional voids. Still, I have yet to meet
someone who freely quotes Portishead lyrics. What Portishead does
is create a mood that begs for cigarettes and strong tea. It may
not be the most energetic album you listen to, but the film
noir-heavy influence makes Dummy one of the best headphone
trips you’ll ever take.