Portishead’s Dummy is a hauntingly lovely masterpiece that continues to captivate listeners with its moody class and groundbreaking sound.
1994: a watershed 12 months for British music, no matter your tastes. Blur’s Parklife, the Manics’ The Holy Bible, The Prodigy’s Music For The Jilted Era, to not point out a cracking debut single from Supergrass and, after all, Oasis’ Positively Possibly. However none had been fairly so singular; so boldly unique and notably out of step because the introductory providing from Portishead. Dummy, launched in August that 12 months, was as good because it was surprising – some of the influential British debut data of its period.
And simply as Britpop was in full swing, sending acoustic guitar gross sales by means of the roof with supercharged lad-rock anthems tailor-made for the terraces, a sleeper-hit revolution was underneath manner in Bristol. It started as a low rumble of bass – one you could possibly really feel rattling in your bones lengthy earlier than your ears may even hear it; the nice and cozy crackling and popping of vinyl static; sluggish, hypnotic grooves and ethereal vocals. Pitched fairly intentionally on the reverse finish of the spectrum, Portishead’s Dummy was the whole lot that Positively Possibly or Parklife wasn’t: refined, slow-burning, elusive, delicate, haunting.
However feast music this ain’t. In case your host ought to slip Dummy onto the turntable earlier than serving up the hors d’oeuvres, it may be clever to politely make your excuses. Beautiful style in music apart, there’s a superb probability the canapés have been laced with cyanide. Removed from the ‘sit back’ tag too usually lazily utilized to this group, ‘chilling’ can be extra applicable. Portishead’s debut is at instances awkward, intense, demanding, anxious and sinister. For all its lighter moments (It Might Be Candy), it will get fairly heavy, too (that groove in Strangers).
Musical Melting Pot
The Bristol Sound* advanced out of the town’s sound programs, melding influences from US hip-hop with a distinctly Bristolian sensibility, knowledgeable by the town’s wealthy (albeit troubled) multicultural heritage, and affect of dub from incoming Afro-Caribbean communities. (*Don’t name it ‘trip-hop’, except you want to invoke the wrath of its originators.)
The inventive conflict of cultures however fuelled a subversive creative outlook that fed into the music. One such collective, The Wild Bunch, spawned scene icons Huge Assault and their occasional affiliate Difficult, in addition to Grammy award-winning producer, Nellee Hooper, whereas the identical scene birthed the famously elusive road artist, Banksy.
The Bristol set jettisoned the alpha male braggadocio usually related to hip-hop, electing as an alternative for hushed vocals, a meditative, soulful sensuality, and – a complete taboo in hip-hop on the time – occasional gender-fluidity. The tempo is positively sedate but unrelenting, like a freight practice steadily constructing momentum. Opposite to Madchester’s rave tradition, that was all about developing, Bristol soundtracked the comedown, representing the inner moderately than exterior. “Dance music for the top moderately than the ft”, to cite Huge Assault’s Daddy G in The Observer.
Sculpting New Sounds
Whereas Portishead weren’t born instantly out of that scene, they had been shut sufficient to soak up a few of its attributes. A teenage Geoff Barrow was the assistant at Bristol’s Coach Home studio, that means he learnt his commerce on Huge Assault’s seminal file, 1991’s Blue Strains, the style’s holotype.
Mobilised by the novel strategies they deployed, Barrow picked up a factor or two from Huge Assault – particularly, an Akai sampler and an Atari laptop, with which he started to sculpt new beats and sounds of his personal.
These formative explorations on the borrowed gear – initially flying solo – had been the genesis of what would evolve into Portishead.
On the face of it, the Portishead trio made an unlikely ensemble, every born in a distinct decade: Adrian Utley within the 50s, Beth Gibbons within the 60s and Geoff Barrow within the 70s. But every introduced a definite aspect that was integral to their sound.
Barrow was the group’s driving power, closely impressed by hip-hop, fascinated by its strategies of sampling, looping and turntable scratching. Barrow’s writing and manufacturing credit score (Somedays) on Neneh Cherry’s 1992 album, Homebrew offered a primary skilled launch; his dusty, minimalistic beats are very audibly the precursor to the Portishead sound.
Retro Noir
Whereas attending an enterprise course for the unemployed, Barrow met would-be singer, Beth Gibbons – an unbelievable uncooked expertise with a voice like reduce glass. In another universe, Gibbons might need turn into the official frontwoman of Speak Speak offshoot, .O.rang (Beth seems on their 1994 debut album, Herd Of Intuition). In the end, the burgeoning success of Portishead took her on a distinct path.
Naturally shy, the younger Beth is invariably seen stooping over the microphone, as a cigarette slowly burns down between her fingers. She giggles her manner nervously by means of interviews, so unaccustomed is she to the limelight. However when she sings, she’s a power of nature. Her physique turns into a portal that transports the listener again to a different period, acquainted however tantalisingly out of attain. Her voice doesn’t belong in our time; maybe a misplaced wartime radio transmission someway making its manner out of the ether right into a crackly Tannoy speaker.
The ultimate piece of the puzzle to fit into place, Adrian Utley was carving out a residing as a jobbing musician for the likes of Jeff Beck, amongst others. The person with the golden guitar, Utley introduced the spy movie aspect. Utley was drawn to movie composers akin to John Barry, who scored a lot of the James Bond sequence, and Ennio Morricone, identified for his spaghetti western soundtracks. Utley opened Barrow as much as these novel sounds – a defining ingredient in Portishead’s chemistry that clearly differentiates them from their comrades in Huge Assault. Cue oodles of sweeping strings, jazzy interludes and twangy tremolo guitars, invoking a definite retro noir sensibility.
Mud & Distortion
Dummy achieves perfection by means of imperfection. Ambiance and atmosphere stay on the forefront all through; the area between the notes carrying a weightiness of its personal.
The trio went to excessive lengths to create these timeless smoky sounds. One such approach was bouncing right down to cassette; or transmitting Beth’s vocals to tape through a radio sign; or enjoying by means of a damaged amplifier – every time, taking a clear sign and pushing it by means of a degenerative format to create loss and distortion. In different.
This method even prolonged to sampling themselves: recording unique drum grooves to vinyl, which may then be manipulated. Utley introduced in fellow jazz session participant, Clive Deamer – fairly presumably the one drummer to have been thrown out of a band (Hawkwind, no much less) for being “too skilled”. Deamer would play the beat, as requested, which they’d reduce to a grasp disc, earlier than scuffing it up and carrying it out (till it resembled a cut price bin file picked up at a automobile boot sale), resampling, after which chopping it as much as their satisfaction.
Nice sampling is a genuinely ignored artform – not simply the technical prowess, however the curatorial side of choosing the best selections and incorporating them into one’s personal sound in a manner that provides one thing new. Utley’s traditional file assortment evidently influenced just a few key samples on Dummy. Whereas Bitter Instances and Glory Field clearly owe their essence to the supply materials, Portishead’s personal innovation takes them someplace excitingly new.
Elsewhere, the samples are deployed in a manner that skews them totally from recognition into one thing wholly unique and otherworldly – the prime instance being the road from 50s crooner Johnnie Ray’s I’ll By no means Fall In Love Once more, gloriously subverted on Biscuit to resemble some summary sign phoned in from outer area.
Out On Their Personal
The phrase that frequently crops up when describing Portishead is ‘uncompromising’. As a unit, they’re anti-popstars in each sense, identified for being elusive and discovering success on their very own phrases, and avoiding the same old industrial promotional actions. They’re very a lot a studio outfit by nature. However, 1998’s Dwell In Roseland NYC, recorded in help of their second, self-titled LP, is an absolute masterclass. That includes a full stay band and orchestra, it’s an outstanding doc for a collective who, by their very own admission, as soon as mentioned they didn’t take pleasure in enjoying stay. It’s additionally testomony to their improvement from a sample-based origin to an natural instrumental group.
Launched in a 12 months of epic albums, Dummy nonetheless received the Mercury Prize, beating stellar debuts from Britpop boomers Oasis, Supergrass and Elastica, in addition to fellow Bristol alumni, Difficult.
Peaking at No.2 on UK Albums Chart, Dummy was finally topped as file of the 12 months by each Melody Maker and The Wire and has since turn into a fixture on ‘better of’ lists. Certainly, what’s wonderful about Dummy is the way it transcends style. No matter tribe you belong to, one thing resonates inside.
Widespread Affect
Portishead’s legacy is most clearly measured, not in their very own close to good however restricted output, however moderately the large quantity of copycat materials that adopted. You hear Dummy’s affect rubbing off on a large number of artists who discovered industrial success in Portishead’s wake: Groove Armada, Morcheeba, Goldfrapp, Air, Cinematic Orchestra, Zero 7. Whereas not with out benefit, lots of them sanded off the tough edges that gave Portishead their character. Extra not too long ago, Lana Del Rey and Billie Eilish have taken cues from their retro-inspired streetwise melancholia. Beth Gibbons’ voice is way imitated, however by no means surpassed.
Their sound (if not their fashion) has clear echoes in Hazard Mouse’s Noughties manufacturing work, notably on Beck’s 2008 album Fashionable Guilt, which options sparse preparations of reverb-laden plucked guitars over crunchy beats, characterised by the identical analogue heat and classic sound.
Portishead’s aesthetic grew to become so recognisable, ubiquitous and emulated, that they consciously scrapped it totally, wiping the slate clear for the long-gestated Third album. If not for Beth’s voice, you’d by no means contemplate it to be the identical band – which, presumably, is exactly what they needed. Gibbons not too long ago acquired one other Mercury nod for her 2024 solo LP, Lives Outgrown (Time’s album of 2024) – an earthier, folky delight within the vein of Siouxsie. Nothing like Portishead, however equally spellbinding. You must admire their steadfast refusal to tread the identical outdated floor. However for this author, Dummy stays their final calling card, but to be surpassed.
The Tracks
Mysterons
Woozy damaged chords ring out over turntable scratching, earlier than a handy guide a rough, trippy beat falls in on a tautly wound snare, accompanied by a spooky theremin. Gibbons’ timeless voice enters the fray, lifting the observe from a breakbeat instrumental into one thing boldly unique. So far as introductions go it’s fairly compelling; the consummate soundtrack to a misplaced silver display screen traditional: movie noir meets B-movie sci-fi.
The title, after all, references the puppet-based sci-fi present from the makers of Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons. Numerous interpretations of the latter have been put ahead, such because it being a commentary on the Chilly Battle and/or the psychological techniques deployed by terrorists. Regardless of the extraterrestrial sci-fi theme, may Portishead’s reference be a foreboding touch upon trying not outwards, however inwards, at our personal darkish human nature? Or possibly the title simply sounded nice.
Bitter Instances
One among Portishead’s defining tracks and a masterclass in understated cool, Bitter Instances is constructed across the opening bars of Danube Incident from the unique Mission Not possible sequence, recasting it as a sultry ballad. It boasts certainly one of Portishead’s trademark descending plucked basslines, twangy, excessive tremolo guitars, plus the rattling and chiming cimbalom. Gibbons coos gently: “No one loves me, it’s true/ Not such as you do”, over a shuffling beat. Upon preliminary UK launch, the one stalled at No.57, later reaching No.13 on re-release following the success of Glory Field. A smoky and timeless traditional.
Strangers
A Climate Report pattern collapses right into a gnarly, repetitive and dubby groove, akin to Huge Assault. That’s earlier than a slinky guitar half and hints of mangled trumpet transport us to the jazz café. The abrasive low-end pulse is splendidly hypnotic, punky and dissonant, like an air raid siren, with Beth’s voice slicing like glass excessive.
A vastly unique spotlight of the file, that really comes alive at their gigs. Certainly, much more satisfying than the track itself is trying out response movies of the Roseland NYC efficiency from uninitiated listeners – watching their minds get blown (in a great way) by means of a mixture of sheer pleasure and complete confusion is really heartwarming.
It Might Be Candy
The primary observe that Gibbons and Barrow ever labored on collectively, earlier than Utley joined them. Apparently, Beth already had an thought in progress, which Geoff then re-translated into his formative Portishead sound. He utilises a drum machine to create a proto lure groove – a easy backbeat at a chilled-out tempo, juxtaposed with fluttering syncopated fills.
As a primary ‘testing the water’ collab, it’s a formidable assertion of intent, although the depth they’d go on to attain has not but absolutely developed. It’s notably one of many extra upbeat and uplifting tracks on the album; breezy and carefree, with out the foreboding sense of dread and nervousness that hangs over a lot of the file. Although it’s comparatively light-weight in tone, that’s no dangerous factor to counterbalance the shade elsewhere.
Wandering Star
Immediately extra foreboding than the earlier observe, Wandering Star is constructed upon a sluggish pulsing emission like a damaged coronary heart monitor, that includes a manipulated pattern, towards a sluggish saggy beat. There’s extra funky turntablism from Barrow and down-tuned guitar licks from Utley. With out Beth’s voice, it may move for an instrumental from Californian rap collective, Jurassic 5’s debut.
All through the LP, Gibbons’ lyrics are sometimes summary and ambiguous – but, even while you’re not totally away from the that means, they invoke varied feelings, starting from isolation and loneliness to craving and seduction. Pattern lyrics on this case: “The masks that the monsters put on to feed upon their prey” and “the blackness of darkness eternally”. The sinister monotony of the groove and vocal contrasts with the uplifting guitar and turntable elaborations.
It’s A Fireplace
Opening like Huge Assault’s Unfinished Sympathy with majestic sweeping strings, it then takes a distinct route with Beth’s vocal over organ chords, simply passing for an offcut from Air’s Moon Safari. Lacking from the tracklisting of some unique releases of the album, it’s advantageous and a serviceable chill-out observe however feels slightly like they’re coasting, missing the identical depth felt throughout Dummy. It’s direct, clear and upfront (no dangerous factor in itself), however not cloaked in that cloying ambiance that provides the remainder of the file its visceral edge.
Pedestal
A grungy trippy beat, loaded with swagger, with a very jazzy vocal from Gibbons, and a muted trumpet solo that imbue an actual lounge really feel. Pedestal is notably sparse, moody and subdued. Some cool funky instrumental breaks and nifty scratching from Geoff Barrow elevate it from feeling too downbeat. A advantageous album observe, however they’ll’t all be dizzy peaks.
Biscuit
One other breakbeat jam, with extra funky turntablism and the impressed Johnnie Ray pattern that’s distorted, mangled and manipulated past recognition to create an eerily down-pitched, stretched out vocal chorus. Biscuit options one other attribute descending bassline, with tons extra Fender Rhodes piano giving a lounge vibe, over a stop-start beat. Its area age jazz feels so much like The Cinematic Orchestra, who would comply with of their wake. A cool downbeat stoner vibe.
Glory Field
Whether or not or not Portishead are in your radar, Glory Field is the track that everybody has heard someplace. An immediate stone-cold traditional and essentially the most catchy and accessible observe on the file, it lands instantly, with its easy descending bassline, lush strings chorus and screaming guitar solo.
It’s constructed round a pattern from Ike’s Rap II by Isaac Hayes, additionally cheekily sampled on Difficult’s Hell Is Spherical The Nook off Maxinquaye. (Although be aware that Ike’s Rap is in itself a free interpolation of one other closely sampled earworm, Wallace Assortment’s Daydream.)
Its prettiness is subverted within the ultimate bars, with a briefly chaotic dissonance like A Day In The Life, earlier than resolving itself with calm. The band didn’t wish to launch it on the grounds of it being “too industrial”, but it surely made UK No.13, and its recognition gave them a stable platform on which to construct.
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