Third time’s a real charm

Their first studio album in 11 years, Portishead’s Third is everything a comeback album should be.

With three albums over their 17-year existence, Portishead have never been prolific, but they’ve never taken the chance to skew their outstanding track record, either. Third sees Portishead again living up to their standard that if you’re going to take forever to put out material, it better be damn good.

Every beat, texture and vocal of Third is immaculate. The group neither recycles nor throws back to the trip-hop they made famous in the ’90s, nor do they dismiss their old style entirely and take a left-field approach with a style that doesn’t work for them. Instead, they update trip-hop – a genre that has seemed dead for quite a while – and churn out a thoroughly 2008 piece of haunting electronica.

Third is the kind of album you’re always looking for in new music but rarely find – an album that tells you what it’s like to be living in the time and place you are. It captures the eeriness of postmodern alienation that most people feel but can’t articulate, with the way it separates vocalist Beth Gibbons’airy singing from the grounded yet bizarre electronic instrumentation beneath her.

It’s hard to describe Third’s instrumentation, as it’s nearly all electronic sounds that don’t seem reminiscent of anything in particular. Its progressions often go from cold to discordant, and its beats are irregular and unpredictable. But it’s still engaging, inviting multiple listens to define its textures and the way they work.

The only song on the album that comes close to being a miss is the uke-friendly “Deep Water.” It’s pretty enough, but its minimalist folk comes off as distracting to the rest of Third’s brooding electronica.

Such a minor misstep, though, can’t begin to bring down this album. Third is not only one of the most sonically brilliant releases of 2008, it might change the way you see the world around you.