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Release Info :
The Resonant label's
quest to unearth new artists continues with this magnificent, sprawling,
widescreen debut from Genoa-based guitar collective port-royal.
The first incarnation
of the band surfaced in July 2000, with the "Kraken" EP issued
in CDR form by Italian label Marsiglia Records in early 2002 -and their
art further fine-tuned via several live shows in their homeland.
"Flares" is the result of more than two years of home
recording, and displays scope and ambition that exudes confidence -
almost arrogance - in their own vision and ability. The ten tracks
herein total the Maximum 78 minutes, with tracks 3/4/5 and 7/8/9 being
two expansive compositions in three movements apiece - the latter being
the album's centrepiece and title track.
Although
"Flares" has much in common with the likes of labelmate
Stafraenn Hakon, for example, there's no way you could classify this as
simply a post-rock album; port-royal utilise understated electronic
beats and subtle spoken vocal samples as well as guitars, and have
created a body of work with no obvious parallels or comparisons.
Track 9, ‘flares pt.3’
will be included on Wire Magazines ‘Wire Tapper 13’ CD which is
given away with all copies of issue 256
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Reviews :
“There's
a voice buried deep in "Jeka" by the group Port-Royal. Perhaps
your
hearing is better than average, but the spoken material is barely
audible on
first listen, appearing just out of range, lost in an aquatic murk that
suggests both Gavin Bryars' Sinking of the Titanic and Scanner's early
work,
back when he was still scanning the airwaves for loose talk. Over
repeated
listens, the voice reveals itself as likely voices, perhaps Russian, and
the
four-minute "Jeka" reveals itself to be largely a construct of
reverberant
guitars, amorphous sounds that become a set of evident patterns. But
just
'cause you can trace the haze's contours doesn't mean you know what's
buried
deep inside.” DISQUIET
”The debut album from Genoa-based multi guitar collective Port-Royal,
a band so
eager to spread their sound that they stretch the 78 minute CD recording
limit to breaking point. Very much in the Manual school of grand
post-rock,
Port Royal seem to have a dizzyingly expansive remit that will appeal to
anyone bewitched by Sigur Ros, Jonas Munk or even Ulrich Schnauss,
fashioning gloriously hued sunset music which positively bursts with
aural
paroxysms. Opening with the ambient hearted 'Jeka', Port-Royal draw you
deep
into their horizon-less world through gauze coated vocals that sit just
out
of reach before treating us to a 10 minute open vista on 'Spetsnaz /Paul
Leni'. However, Port-Royal save their truly epic visions for two
compositions that consist of three movements each, straddling as many
tracks. The first of these ('Zobione') is a genuinely grin-inducing
journey
that suggests a similar recording dictum to that of Triosk, but with
wildly
differing aural results. Encompassing electronica, IDM, post rock and
any
other stravaig movement you like to mention 'Zobione' combines the
kinetic
optimism of Mogwai's 'Rock Action' with Cocteau drums and crackling
machine
beats into a confection that is neither too sweet nor too bitter. It's
just
occurred to me yet again what a great label resonant is - and this is a
simply fabulous release. Highly Recommended!.” BOOMKAT
”Port-Royal's "Flares" is a new acquaintance as far as both
labels and
artists go. Resonant presents Port-Royal an Italian outfit that create
electro acoustic music, relying heavily on guitars in their
compositions.
With "Flares" they've succeeded in making a wonderful debut
album. On it
they're treading the fine electro acoustic line with the acoustically
sounding layered guitars completely dominating the sonic picture and
electronic manipulations that are made to great effect. It's quite
melancholic and very beautiful, but it's not through-and-through
ambience,
there are moments that are rhythmically intense as well. The packaging
is
striking and the acquaintance of Resonant and Port-Royal is an equally
pleasant one!” ELECTRONICDESERT.COM
”Imagine
Godspeed You! Black Emperor with a greater guitar emphasis and a
more measured handling of dynamics and you'll have some idea of the
epic,
widescreen panoramas etched by Genoa-based guitar collective Port-Royal
on
its 77-minute debut. Two years in the making, Flares features no less
than
two three-part suites ("Zobione" and the title piece) but
don't mistakenly
dismiss the album as an exercise in bloated self-indulgence as, despite
its
length, it's anything but. Instead, it's a remarkably accomplished and
carefully modulated collection of immersive soundscapes that, on
multiple
occasions, flirts with majestic beauty. The band conjures long,
trance-inducing compositions that evolve through multiple episodes of
guitar-drum crescendos, becalmed interludes, and shimmering washes of
electric guitar. Port-Royal also carefully modulates its delivery. When
its
sound escalates to a massive ambient pitch in "Spetsnaz/Paul Leni,"
for
instance, the result is powerful, even anthemic, but not abrasive.
Interestingly, beats appear though not always; while most bands root
their
music in its rhythm section, the nucleus of Port-Royal's sound is
clearly
the guitar. Most importantly, the group proves itself capable of
creating
deeply poignant music. In the first of many magical moments, a stately
crescendo of ringing guitar fields in "Zobione Pt. 2" rises to
a majestic
roar that's so beautiful it's almost overwhelming. The band deploys a
similar effect in the thirteen-minute "Karola Bloch" and
"Flares Pt. 2"
where streaming guitar masses billow over conventional rhythm bases. As
powerful as the effect is, though, it's easy to envision it becoming a
too-prevalent signature of the band, given the number of times it's
exploited on Flares. A greater incorporation of stylistic contrast is
one
way of avoiding that trap. The opener "Jeka" does exactly that
by largely
eschewing guitars for blurry piano chords and speaking voices while
"Stimmung" does much the same by closing the album with a
misty ambient
episode. The deeply beautiful music Port-Royal conjures throughout
Flares
will appeal greatly to listeners with an appetite for blissful,
guitar-based
soundscaping.” TEXTURA
”Genoa's
pride Port-Royal are one of the new Italian sensations since they
landed on a well known English label like Resonant and also for the fact
one
of their songs is included in the cd coming together with the issue #256
of
The Wire. This five-piece play that mix of electronic music and indie
rock
(even if I wouldn't label it as "indietronic") that has become
pretty
popular lately, it's surprising how these guys have been able to do it
really well despite their young age, anyhow that's not such a surprise
for
those who had the luck to own their demo. Somebody described their sound
as
something not so far from bands like Sigur Ros (for the fact their music
is
somehow "arctic"), Mogwai (more ambient and with less
explosions), Slowdive
(for the "liquid-psychedelic" guitars and since some tunes are
depressive
but yet in a "shoegaze" manner). Even if the record is not
meant as a
concept the most of the tracks have been produced as two compositions in
three movements apiece, that (but not just that) gives the whole cd a
real
sense of unity, one of the consequence of it is that many listeners will
remain partially stoned by a sort of "trance-like" sensation
that haunts the
ten tracks. The record is a bit too long maybe but probably some of the
early bands on Kranky would approve the over sixty minute of music,
other
listeners probably will be complaining about the fact it can be boring,
but
it's just up to your ears!. Some episodes of "flares" are
surprisingly
inspired and incredibly well projected, plus it's rare to hear such a
production from a band at its debut. Somebody told me they're working on
a
remix record, I think it should be really interesting considered how
remixable is the music they play. I don't know if a new star has born,
but
if you think "polar/north-european" indie-music "has
it": you'd better give
a listen to Port-Royal.” CHAINDLK.COM
”Port-Royal come from Genoa, Italy, a city most recently famous for
its
police force's horrific treatment of anti-G8 protesters in 2001. News
pictures flew around the world of young, innocent people curled-up on
cold,
hard tarmac with groups of storm troopers breaking their bones. A
beautiful,
historic city became the setting for a modern-day bloodbath. Port-Royal's
music is the opposite of this violence. It is calm, reassuring and
comforting. But the scale of it is massive. It's huge like Sigur Ros are
huge - epic soundscapes as big as a continent. Its effects-laden guitars
spill out of the speakers and wrap themselves around everything in the
room
before they are ripped apart by an electronic drum beat that sweeps in
for a
few seconds before disappearing again. It's ambient post-rock, like
Brian
Eno remixed by Mogwai. As delicate as anything Eno has ever done, but
with a
power behind it that bolsters and strengthens the sound and vocal
samples
that sound like Mogwai's early stuff; low, behind the music, like
distant
radio signals picked-up from space interfering with your stereo. The
album
isn't built around singles, ballads, floor-fillers. It works as a stand
alone piece, not meant to be picked-at. Two of the tunes are spread over
three tracks each, movements that reek of an interpretation of classical
works. There isn't anything punchy and instant here, and to be honest,
that
can be a let down. The album keeps the soundscapes going throughout, the
atmosphere intact, but maybe it could have done with some more catchy
melody
in places. But Flares is the sort of music that you should play quietly.
It
isn't made to be analysed and scrutinised, it should be played at very
low
volume so you're just able to hear it, so that it fills the room like
incense. The 78 minute length of it is a soundtrack of sorts, one meant
to
colour-in whatever you are doing.” ANGRYAPE.COM
In
a year in which I have personally not received pleasing musical
surprises, hearing the 'Flares' album of Genoa-based guitar collective
Port-Royal, it's a real pleasure. It is also the possibility to offer a
deserved recognition and gratefulness to the English Resonant label to
show us during 2005 refreshing and new proposals as labelmates Emery
Reel, Blindfold, Ölvis, Dialect, Esmerine and Stafrænn Häkon. The
history of Port-Royal goes back to July 2000 where the first line-up of
the band takes place, that would released the CD-R 'Kraken EP' early in
2002 by the Italian Marsiglia imprint. 'Flares', their first production
properly so
with a more wide distribution, is the result of more than two years of
work
in homemade studios, which is not perceived at all in this both frozen
and
warm album. The quintet [comprised by Attilio Bruzzone, Ettore Di
Robert,
Emilio Pozzolini, Giulio Corona and Michele Di Robert] retakes the
history
of some gems already released in the past in the oceanic rock,
expansive,
melodic and noisy vein, as it was the case of North American band
Transient
Waves's debut album, alongwith other exponents of the genre in the likes
of
Windy & Carl and Grimble Grumble, to name a few. 'Flares' is
comprised by 10
compositions and most of them of a very long extension, with different
song
intensities, as it is on 'Flares' [Parts 1 and 2] and on 'Zobione'
[Parts 1,
2 and 3]. In the composition there is relax and overcarefulness
atmosphere,
good taste and a lot of inspiration that takes us to float around and be
part of the scapes with exquisite delays and the percussion in the right
place. Like all good production with positive internal effects when the
listening
comes to an end this one leave us a bit tired, a clear symptom that the
mission has been more than fulfilled and satisfactory. Port-Royal's
music it's
certainly blue” LOOP
At
times it feels like the market for soaring, instrumental guitar music is
vastly overcrowded. The slight variations are near-endless but only
rarely compelling, and the sons and daughters of Slint, Mogwai, Godspeed
et al too often stay rigorously faithful to their parents. When an act
does manage to break through and make an impression it's often hard to
put across in words how they've managed; on paper not a lot separates
the success from the failures in this field.
Italian quasi-collective Port-Royal are an excellent example; “Jeka”
starts out on a very Young Team direction, slow piano and sweeping
guitar/synth ambience colouring the air above some quiet sampled
discussion. It's not bad, and certainly fares better once you've heard
the rest of Flares, but the listener is apt to settle back in their
chair when they hear “Jeka,” content that the rest will be
predictably epic.
And in terms of length it certainly is—“Zobione” and “Flares”
take up three tracks and more than twenty minutes apiece, and
“Spetsnaz/Paul Leni” and “Karola Bloch” each tip the scales at
more than ten. But once the drum loop kicks in beneath the beginning of
“Spetsnaz/Paul Leni,” things subtly shift around; you've heard these
ingredients before, but Port-Royal are exceptionally skilled chefs. The
closest Flares comes to startling innovation is the way “Zobione Pt.
3” opens with a harsh burst of distorted beats washing over the same
guitar figure the band has been toying with for fifteen minutes already,
but when your debut is as enjoyable and striking as this album is we can
settle for refinement instead of innovation.
And even leaving aside the question of whether innovation is always
desirable, it's hard not to be glad that Port-Royal are currently
working more on wringing every scrap of beauty out of this set-up. The
result is ambient in the best sense; this is utterly “ignorable” if
you're busy, the perfect soundtrack to 70 minutes of necessary drudgery.
But when you focus in on it, some of the music here is breathtaking, the
sort of instrumental, wordless communication that usually spurs writers
on to mountains of metaphors, each more baroquely beautiful and unlikely
than the last.
Most pertinently, Port-Royal manage the difficult trick (mastered by
only a few, including Jesu and Luomo) of stretching songs out to ten or
twenty minutes and keeping the structure fairly simple but never losing
your attention. There's plenty of repetition, sure, but there are always
enough new elements being introduced so that the ear has something to
follow. It helps that the record is well sequenced, saving the more
placid title track until near the end to slowly wind the album down.
“Stimmung” (German for “Tendency”) then provides an even more
lulling coda, the kind of music that seems to hang gleaming in the air
in front of you. These sounds are almost tactile, and especially on
headphones they seem to condition the space you exist in.
At times it seems as if every sound here is either floating or chiming
(or both), but Flares never succumbs to the kind of uplift fatigue
Godspeed You Black Emperor's work occasionally suffers from. Part of it
is that Port-Royal is, again, closer to ambient music than Mogwai,
although their tools have more in common with the latter than many
practitioners of the former. Most instrumental guitar music like this
has a ferocious sense of drive or urgency or anger, but Port-Royal strip
all that away to make something more peaceful and comforting. Usually
you get shoved forward by the guitars; here you are swimming in them, in
no hurry to get anywhere else. If every good album deserves its own
absurd comparison, we could say that Port-Royal sounds like Eluvium
messing around with The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place. The result is
probably too boundless and too glacial for some, but anyone looking for
music to drown in should seek this out. STYLUS MAGAZINE
It's
hard not to go all gaga over Italy's Port-Royal and their masterful
debut, Flares. If there was ever a lesson on the importance of patience
and
that it does indeed have a pay-off, this 10 song piece of art would be
it.
"Jeka" opens the album, and keyboards usher you into sonic
oblivion,
accompanied by small guitar rumblings and undistinguishable vocal
chatter.
Drums are introduced early on in the 11 minute epic that follows,
"Spetsnaz/Paul Leni". Dissonant chimes add to the atmosphere
until the
laptop beats take over, giving Port-Royal a highbrow-art vibe, yet the
band
manages to keep the sonic experiments diverse and relaxed. Long and
subtle
drones slowly move "Zobione, Pt.1" along. I hear lots of
similiarities to
( )-era Sigur Ros in this track. Glitching bleeps continue what the
previous
track started in "Zobione, Pt.2", eventually followed by all
out acoustic
drumming and melodic, angular guitars. This is the post-rock that I
love.
When electronic and organic elements come together to create numbing
sensations. It is here, at track 4, that Port-Royal achieves greatness.
And
the tracks that follow take their cues and follow the same pattern.
"Zoboine, Pt.3" throws distorted, electro-punk beats into the
mix to great
effect, then in one breath, things return to simplistic, atmospheric
keyboards and minimal laptop beats. The albums centerpiece, "Karola
Bloch",
is Port-Royal's most epic, and not just because of its trying twelve and
a
half minute length. The textures are are built upon with a 2-way voice
conversation, trip-notic drumming, and the odd space-like bleep, until
the
sonics explode to full out glitching. And again, with the grace of
experienced aural technicians, Port-Royal brings the music almost to a
hault, and gently lets it build again. The guitar tones in "Flares,
Pt.1"
remind me of Disappear Here - era Yellow6 - almost jangly, but brimming
with
delayed ambience. The emotional, somber pomp of "Flares, Pt.2"
eventually
lead into "Flares, Pt.3", where you are lulled into a peaceful
trip of
noise, as the band patiently and skillfully creates a surreal backdrop.
And
finally, the quiet "Stimmung" ushers you out as delicately as
you were
ushered in. It would be hard to NOT like this album, especially if
you're
even slightly bend towards post-rock, slow-core, or dream-pop. Flares
will
be getting a lot of spins from me in the months to come. BLACKANDWHITEMAG.COM Port-Royal
comes from the school of thought that more is better. Many
instrumental bands this day and age are foregoing the foreplay and going
straight for the kill, but not Port-Royal. It would much rather caress
the
listener over a 10 or 20 minute song (split into three parts) and then
go
straight for the kill. The band builds up a rich landscape with
ambiance,
dense atmospherics, and electronic noises. Much of the time you kind of
sit
back and wonder if the band has a drummer. Of any guitarists. But rest
assured, they all come into the picture full force during the climaxes
--
sometimes. Sometimes they explode with instrumental force, sometimes
it's an
electronic barrage on the central nervous system. "Spetsnaz/Paul
Leni" is
mostly a computer affair. Subtle electronics and ambiance glide this
song
freely along the track without much resistance. "Karola Bloch"
fights back
with more of an aggressive edge, using the electronics as an aggressor
and a
swirling, damp atmosphere attempts to offset its jagged advances. The
"Flares" and "Zobione" series are clearly the
drawing tracks of the album,
creating complex paths by way of electronics, guitar effects, and most
importantly ambiance. Flares seemingly intends to trick the listener
into a
false sense of security with light sounds and them suffocate it with a
guitar blast of turgid ambiance. In this regard, "Zobione"
serves as the
prelude to the monumental blow served up by "Flares". Yet, as
soon as the
band finally releases its aggression, it recedes back into its safe
cocoon
of ambiance and repetitive guitar riffs. Flares is subtle and moving;
each
listen delves a bit deeper into the sounds created by the band.
In the end, Port-Royal is an oddity of a band that is perplexing, yet
engaging. I can't claim to have completely wrapped my mind around the
band,
although I've spent countless hours attempting to do so. That should
speak
for itself, but the idea is that although the band comes off as very
unique
and original, I can't but help to feel that they could really tighten up
their sound. As is, I always think of them as an extremely bloated
hybrid of
65 Days of Static and God is an Astronaut, one that isn't concerned with
coming off as excessive or superfluous. There's no doubt in my mind that
Port-Royal is experimenting with some tricky formulas in Flares, and
once
they have the method down the resulting album is going to be a
tremendous
piece of art. DECOYMUSIC.COM
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