{"id":18834,"date":"2011-07-27T03:54:49","date_gmt":"2011-07-27T03:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mvremix.com\/rock_blogs\/?p=18834"},"modified":"2019-04-16T22:21:11","modified_gmt":"2019-04-16T22:21:11","slug":"portugal-the-man-in-the-mountain-in-the-cloud-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mvremix.com\/rock_blogs\/2011\/07\/27\/portugal-the-man-in-the-mountain-in-the-cloud-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Portugal. The Man – In the Mountain in the Cloud review"},"content":{"rendered":"

By the middle of 2007, Portugal. The Man (no, it\u2019s not a typo; that\u2019s how their name is formatted) seemed like a poor man\u2019s version of the Mars Volta. Jolting, guitar-driven prog-rock with bizarre tempo changes weren’t call to bash the band, but the punk fusion thrown in at times was enough to deny the Portland quintet of artistic measure. But in 2008, all that changed. The band recorded Censored Colors<\/em> on their own label and altered their entire sound by embracing the piano and shying away from John Gourley\u2019s guitar fuzz that was so prominent the two years prior. From there came the commercially successful (yet don\u2019t take that poorly; it\u2019s arguably their best record) Satanic Satanist<\/em> and last year\u2019s electronically motivated American Ghetto<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And now, not even a year-and-a-half later, Portugal. The Man give us their sixth studio LP and first with Atlantic Records, In the Mountain in the Cloud<\/em>. Let it be known that this band has accomplished the astonishing feat of putting out an album every year they\u2019ve been together, so they\u2019re not only proving they\u2019re a creative bunch, they also can plead not guilty to testing their audience\u2019s patience. However, this causes one of two problems for them: A) Either fans will be generous to the album because they didn\u2019t have to wait long for it to come out, or B) they\u2019ll be more likely to dismiss it on first listen because they’ve already got so many other albums from which to choose. I fall into the the first category.<\/p>\n

In the Mountain<\/em> is arguably the least interesting album Portugal\u2019s released since their second LP, but the fact remains that it\u2019s still interesting, and that right there says a lot about these guys. Every single song sounds built for movie trailers, but that in essence means the album\u2019s very listenable. It\u2019s just that the reach for a commercial outlet seemed way too noticeable this time around, unlike Satanic Satanist<\/em>, which had experimental spots to it.<\/p>\n

Chalk it up to a band with a six-year catalog, though. We\u2019ll see what happens the seventh time around (most likely next year?), but my guess is this band\u2019s reaching for a mega-hit single, and after six years of hard work, that’s nothing to knock them for.<\/p>\n

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