Monument

Portico Quartet are the embodiment of how to fuse instrumental genres while writing a story with sounds.

Even though we firstly covered them in 2018 (thanks to Jemma's revisit of "Prickly Pear"), the London 4-piece have been for more than 15 years now. If this is the first time you happen to stumble upon their music, I highly recommend traveling back to 2008 and submerging in the sonic universe of their debut LP Knee-Deep in the North Sea.

Today, I am excited to share with you the musical gift that their new album Monument is, which popped on my radar thanks to a German newsletter I found about experimental, jazz and ambient music (Zen Sounds). Released via Gondwana Records, the 10-track record is a minimalistic, yet highly engaging record that should be anything, but background listen.

I decided to spotlight album's title track because of the wonderful and seamless blend of jazz dynamics with electronic music's energy and the cinematic structure typical for ambient post-rock music. One could pick both contemporary and classic in the short time span of 4 minutes.

Also, another cool fact - all album covers of the bands are the works of drummer Duncan Bellamy who holds a degree in Fine Art. They tend to be rather abstract, a suitable continuation of the sound Portico Quartet are creating.