Portugal. The Man Stays Sunny In The Face Of Satanism
The Satanic Satanist wasn’t expected, but maybe that makes it even better.
Portugal. The Man
The Satanic Satanist
Released on Jul 21, 2009
I’m cheap. That’s
the truth. Give me any situation where I can get away without
losing a cent and I’ll take it in a second. This is especially
relevant for my accumulating collection of music. Seldom do I
pay for my music, it is usually either given to me to review, passed
on to me through a friend, or downloaded for my personal listening pleasure.
But something about Portugal. The Man’s latest album The Satanic
Satanist would ensure that that wasn’t the case this time.
I didn’t believe it was possible
at first, me, paying for an album I already owned? Surely some
sort of trickery must be afoot – or could there be an honest change
of heart going on? I suppose I should start this thing at the
beginning, before I had even listened to The Satanic Satanist.
This review started as most others before it had, regardless of Portugal. The Man's place as one of my favorite bands. I was emailed a copy of The Satanic Satanist a few weeks before its release date, as usual, but as destiny would have it my first listen to this album would be more memorable than most.
The location was Alaska. To be more specific, Anchorage - about 30 miles from Portugal's hometown of Wasilla (more infamously known as Sarah Palin's hometown). Before I was to leave the city, and consequently my only internet connection, I decided to check my email. To my delight The Satanic Satanist was now in my possession, upon which it was immediately loaded to my ipod and set to repeat.
I can’t tell you how many times I listened to the album while riding trains through the remote Alaskan wilderness, but it was probably more than most would consider healthy. Although in my own defense, it’s a very short album, at only 35 minutes. Lack of length doesn’t diminish the impact of this album however, in each of its short tracks, all of which average about three minutes, there is a colossal amount of music.
Upon my arrival home I was
still a bit clueless as to what sort of angle my review should have.
In my confusion I turned to Portugal’s website, where I found, among
other things, a lengthy letter from the bands charismatic front man
John Gourley concerning the premature leak of the album and his opinion
on downloading music. As might be expected from anyone making
their living off music, he would like fans to buy the album, however,
he did have his own take on the leak. He wanted it to be known
that he does support the free downloading of music, but along with that
realizes the importance of buying albums that you do enjoy.
While the music alone may not be enough to convince the savvy shopper to buy a copy of The Satanic Satanist, Portugal. The Man seems to have found other methods of persuasion. Among these is their album packaging. Artist Austin Sellers and Gourley went to work on making the album art and packaging for this album truly one of a kind. Made up of nothing more than folded paper this ingenious, psychedelic masterpiece is a piece of art itself. (The packaging and other works of Austin’s can be seen here http://www.austinmadethis.com) When ordering a copy of The Satanic Satanist you can also purchase a digital copy of The Majestic Majesty, which is simply an acoustic version of the album. Needless to say, I was completely sold and immediately purchased.
And now, the reason you probably started reading this in the first place: The Satanic Satanist is Porugal’s fourth album in four years, a blistering pace compared to most other artists who spend months on end touring the U.S. and Europe. The hectic pace doesn't matter to this group of dedicated musicians, who, despite recording this album in less than two weeks, have still managed to create one of the best albums I’ve heard this year.
The album starts off with a
little ditty by the name of “People Say.” Filled with enchanting
guitar playing, their always-solid rhythm section, and Gourley’s swooning,
crooning, soul filled falsetto. What I observed my first time
hearing this song, and the new album as a whole is that they had really
concentrated their sound. Much of their former experimental nature
is gone from this album, leaving a much more focused, formulaic sound
than ever before. Each song features a more defined pop structure
with a verse-chorus-verse-chorus song layout. Arguably the most
memorable chorus on the album is the catchy one included in the premier
track “All the Soldiers say, it’ll be alright/ We may make it
through the war/ if we make it through the night/ all the people, they
say/ What a lovely day, yeah we won the war / May have lost a
million men but we’ve got a million more/ all they people, they say.”
“People Say” flows directly into “Work All Day,” a straightforward simple rock song. Keep an ear locked on the keyboardist Ryan Neighbors, whose shimmering keyboard parts take a much more pronounced role in this album and are particularly contributive in this song. “Lovers In Love,” is the epitome of Portugal. The Man’s retro sensibility. While it phonically sounds closer to their last album, Censored Colors, I have absolutely no complaints about hearing it here.
“The Home” starts things
off nicely with Gourley’s vocals accompanying some sweet organ playing
until the whole band joins in an orgy of group vocals and groovy
melody, only to be penetrated by chants and some signature sick guitar
licks. The Following track “The Woods” slows things down a
bit with its mellow tempo and group ohh’s and ahh’s.
What may be the breakout track of the album is the tantalizingly more experimental “Guns and Dogs.” Taking a slightly more aggressive stance than anything else off Satanist it is also a prime example of Portugal limiting themselves. This might be my only problem with this album, I miss all their experimentation and jamming of the past. Portugal. The Man is some sort of sweet import vehicle (I’ll leave the particular type of vehicle up to your choosing). They’re going along on this road trip of an album taking only main roads, and probably speeding a considerable amount of the time. You can see as they pass by all the side roads where they formerly would have gotten off to explore, but insofar as Satanist is concerned, this is a trip that must be completed with all possible haste. Sure, They deliver a great album, but they may be sacrificing what can be the best parts of road trips, which are, as I’m sure you’re all aware, the surprises along the way.
This album really has nothing satanic about it. So far as I’m concerned it’s just about the opposite of satanic. Actually, the entire album has a rather sunny, innocent disposition, and never is this clearer than in “Everyone is Golden.” The album really settles down from this point on. “Let You Down” and “Mornings” conclude The Satanic Satanist as mellow and as dreamlike as possible.
So what does all this mean? That I’m a sucker for groovy organ passages and falsetto-vocal styles? Albeit that the answer to both those questions is a resounding yes, this album has a little something to offer everyone. Die hard Portugal fans will appreciate this album for what it is. Mainstream radio advocates, God bless ‘em, should even be able to see how real songwriting really works on this album, maybe it will even get their mind off of that mass produced malarkey getting passed off as music these days. Bam!
That’s right, I went there.
High Point
“People Say,” is not only political and edgy, but also catchy as hell.
Low Point
The void of experimentation on this album was my only grievance. You can even hear places, most notably in “Guns And Dogs,” where, if this were any other Portugal album, a jam session would have ensued therein.
Posted by Andrew Scott on Jul 21, 2009 @ 6:00 am
