UK’s weird and wonderful Portico Quartet in concert

Date Published: {J}

The weird but wonderful sound of Mercury-prize nominated UK Portico Quartet can be heard at the Aula Maxima Lower in NUIG, next Tuesday February 23.

The group will be showcasing tunes from their recent album Isla which was described by MOJO music magazine “both exotic and hypnotic”.

The concert is being presented by Music for Galway in association with NUI Arts in Action and Music Network.

The Portico Quartet consists of four young musicians from East London with a track record in busking. This group first hit the headlines in 2008 when their debut album Knee Deep In The North Sea was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.

Their music is original, but with hummable tunes and killer hooks. There are also great grooves, atmospheric soundscapes and the silvery tones of an instrument described as “two woks glued together” – the hang, which is both a rhythm and melody instrument that gives Portico Quartet their hypnotic tone.

Still in their early 20s, Jack Wyllie (saxophones and electronics), Milo Fitzpatrick (double bass), Nick Mulvey (hang and percussion) and Duncan Bellamy (drums) describe themselves as “an indie band that plays post-jazz rather than as a traditional jazz outfit”.

While their music references jazz and African music, it’s the hang-inspired patterns that propel the band into stranger pastures. More recently the Portico Quartet have recorded at Abbey Road Studio 2 with producer John Leckie (Stone Roses, Radiohead, Muse).

The group will perform at the Aula Maxima on Tuesday next at 8pm. Tickets €20/€16/€6(students) from 091/705962..