Portico Quartet announce second album in six months, Monument

Duncan Bellamy and Jack Wylie’s latest is their “most direct” yet

London two-piece Portico Quartet – consisting of producer-instrumentalists Duncan Bellamy and Jack Wylie – have announced their second album in six months, Monument, out via Gondwana Records on November 5.

‘Monument’ follows up the pair’s last, minimalist suite album Terrain. Despite being written after Terrain, they had intended to write it in May 2020, long before the inspirations for the first album unexpectedly arose. Briefly, both albums were intended as two halves of the same longer record, but were later developed separately, despite being written and recorded at the same time. 

Self-described as one of the Quartet’s “most accessible, direct records to date”, Monument is said to contrast to ‘Terrain’. The former addressed the more depressing side of the COVID-19 pandemic, while the latter is intended as an ode to better times ahead.

Jack Wylie explained: “It’s possibly our most direct album to date. It’s melodic, structured and there’s an economy to it that is very efficient. There’s not much searching or wastage within the music itself, it is all finalised ideas, precisely sculpted and presented as a polished artefact.”

Bellamy added: “Monument sits somewhere between our albums Portico Quartet and Art in the Age of Automation. It has perhaps a more overtly electronic edge to its sound – there are more synthesisers and electronic elements than we have used before and the music is often streamlined and rhythmic”.

‘Monument’ will be released on double vinyl, CD, download and streaming on November 5. Pre-order the album on black vinyl, CD or limited clear vinyl.