Bleep

Portico Quartet are back with more of that complex jazz-meets-classical-meets-electronic stuff that they’ve mastered by now. But Terrain sees the group take a different tact for a changed planet. Minimalist slow-builds have always been in PQ’s arsenal, but as Terrain came together in the midst of a global pandemic in 2020, the music was drawn even closer towards a Reichian sense of gentle unfolding. The first part of this three-part suite spends its 19-minute run-time carving out a biome; bright, looping arpeggios allow woodwinds to blossom, as droplets from the ride cymbal keep time. A burst of alto sax invokes the searching mood of John Coltrane with an unsayable, propulsive force.