Having lost a pair of percussionists in recent years, the remaining members of Portico Quartet have ditched the instrument that defined their alternative jazz.
The band, now a trio renamed Portico, started out busking on the South Bank with the Hang, a bit like a steel drum. But it was never the same after their first Hang player, Nick Mulvey, left for a solo career.
Their fourth album, Living Fields, also jettisons Jack Wyllie’s saxophone, prompting one punter at a recent Rotterdam show to demand his money back.
Hidebound jazz types might be appalled yet Portico were always evolving — and now this instrumental group have recruited guest vocalists. Last night label mate Jono McCleery emerged from the shadows with his angelic vocal amid the shimmering synths of 101.
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With the bespectacled Wyllie leaning over his keyboards deep in thought and Milo Fitzpatrick luxuriating in the bass, it was down to Duncan Bellamy to power their fractured grooves with his palette of electronic beats.
He admitted the band had endured “false starts”, though their new direction sounded glorious on the ethereal Bright Luck. There were arms aloft for the encore as the trio created an understated sort of rave. Portico won’t be getting any demands for a refund after this comeback.
