Artist : PORT-ROYAL
Title : Afraid To Dance
Cat# RESCD024
Format : CD Album In Six Panel Digipack
Label : Resonant
Barcode # 5050693160425

Release Info :

The second album from the band who injected new life into the post-rock scene with their breathtaking debut "Flares" in 2005.

For those unfamiliar with their debut, port-royal are anything but just another generic epic instrumental outfit; utilising subtle electronics and almost classical arrangements, they create lengthy, expansive, melancholic compositions that often have movements within the individual tracks, constantly evolving and shifting in tempo.

Though "Afraid To Dance" follows the formula that made "Flares" such a success, it also displays sufficient progression to be more than just "Flares pt2"; though the same components are evident, the emphasis has shifted towards the electronic beats and pure rhythm that underpin their sound, bringing them to the forefront while the hypnotic spacerock guitars and synth gently weave melodies beneath.

CD Tracklisting:

1. Bahnhof Zoo
2. Pauline Bokour
3. Anya Sehnsucht
4. German Bigflies
5. Deca-dance
6. Roliga Timmen (Longing Machines)
7. Internet Love
8. Leitmotiv/Glasnost
9. Putin Vs Valery
10. Attorney Very Bad (aka The Worst)

PRICE / COST

(UK) CD £9.99 - Including standard first class postage

(Europe) CD £10.99 - Including standard airmail postage

(Rest Of World) CD £11.99 - Including standard airmail postage

Reviews :

Afraid to Dance is a funny title for this album of drifting, floating, asleep-in-a-sunbeam music. At first it seems like electronic ambient music (though perhaps that's the influence of the retro-future cover art, how it evokes Boards of Canada), but most of what we hear is played on guitar. And in fact, the label's website describes the Italian group as a "guitar collective". Yet so often the guitar playing and the electronics and whatever else they're playing all meld together into a cloud. Sometimes a noisy cloud ("Pauline Bokour"), but even then gently so. But other times not a cloud in terms of density at all: light, streamlined, breezy, with melodies playing around and about the atmosphere. Beautiful music, and epic: tall, wide, surrounding music. 

ERASINGCLOUDS.COM

 

The whole electronic shoegaze revival is set to boot off yet again in a few weeks thanks to the re-appearance of a certain Mr. Schnauss, a man who played a crucial part in the resurgence of the whole genre a number of years back. Italian band Port-Royal are an act who fuse shimmering, noisy shoegazw guitars with electronic beats and synths, but unlike many of their contemporaries (who are moving further and further away from incorporating electronic elements), Port-Royal have with 'Afraid to Dance' brought the electronics right up to the fore. The construction of the album is similar to their debut 'Flares', the songs are soft and well-paced with a huge attention to melody, but this time the beats are mixed up top, glitching themselves in centre stage and often leaving the melodies trailing up the rear. In fact it's this percussive base that separates the album from its predecessor, although the most successful tracks on the album are surprisingly the least beat laden, when the band allow themselves to take things more slowly and concentrate on texture. Nonetheless, followers of Schnauss, M83, Herrmann & Kleine et al should check this out without delay.  

BOOMKAT.COM

 

Port-Royal's debut Flares was met with much critical acclaim and found the group creating long, drifting passages of post rock that never really rocked like their contemporaries, but released tension through subtle changes and plenty of texture and subtle melodic shifts. Afraid To Dance is the second album from the group and the title seems like a bit of a play on their slight shift in sound for the release. This time out, the group have more of a reliance on electronics and programmed beats, but as the title of the album suggests, it doesn't mean that they're setting out to make your booty move.
 
Afraid To Dance actually moves with largely the same spirit as the first album from the group, even if the instrumentation is a bit different. Ten tracks run a clean sixty minutes, and although the group drifts in places, the release feels a bit more tight than their previous album, with the aforementioned rhythmic focus pushing things forward most of the time. "Bahnhof Zoo" opens things and sets the stage with a heavy fog of reverb-coated piano and guitar drifting over some subtle, but crunchy beats that provide just enough of a backbone to hold things up before a synth-based coda swoops things upward.
 
The following two tracks are a couple of the low-points on the release (the nearly nine-minute almost twee electro post rock of "Anya:Sehnsucht" follows the inconsequential "Pauline Bokour"), but fortunately things pick up again about a third of the way through the release with the Seefeel-esque "German Bigflies" and over nine minutes of shimmer in "Deca-Dance." The latter (and somewhat unfortunately titled) track is especially a standout, with heavenly choir vocal washes, pitter-patter beat programming, and a synth-heavy second half that calls to mind Tangerine Dream.
 
"Leitmotiv / Glasnost" picks up where the aforementioned track left off, with arpeggiated synths spiraling upward alongside drifting filter drones before the track melts into a loping thump with another slew of overlapping waves of sound cascading off one another. So it goes with Port-Royal, who were lumped by many into the post rock genre, even though their sound very, very rarely moves into something that would be called rock at all. If anything, the group is creating super-spectral ambient music that moves with just enough beat-filled moments to keep it out of sheer drift-land. With their use of more electronic elements, Afraid To Dance might not end up aging quite as well as their debut, but I have to give them credit for not simply churning out a simple sequel. 

ALMOSTCOOL.ORG

 

Thanks to the likes of Godspeed You Black Emperor!, A Silver Mt. Zion, and Mogwai, when most people hear the term “instrumental post-rock,” they instantly start hearing long, slow burning epics replete with searingly gloomy string arrangements and ominous field recordings that eventually arrive in thunderous, apocalyptic climaxes.

And yet, the term “instrumental post-rock” could just as easily apply to Port-Royal’s latest CD, Afraid To Dance.  Many of the earmarks are there: sprawling compositions that seem less interested in where they end up than in how they get there, an overall pensive and moody disposition, and enigmatic samples that pop up here and there.

However, the Italian quartet eschew much of the sturm und drang that Godspeed et al. made their stock in trade.  While there are plenty of layers and walls of noise, they never reach the epic, stirring heights that one might think, but almost always prefer to lie in the background.  As such, there’s not quite the emotional intensity and intimacy to Port-Royal’s music that can be found in even Godspeed’s most overwhelming moments.

Instead, Port-Royal focuses more on the finer details and textures, and to that end, replace the string arrangements one might expect with electronics (noodly synths, glitchy ambience, programmed beats).  However, unlike M83’s similar forays, Port-Royal’s electronica-laced compositions feel much more organic.  This isn’t just a case of taking searing, towering guitars and slapping them together with some equally over-the-top synth arrangements, which sounds good for awhile but becomes less interesting as time goes on.

Rather, I’m reminded more of Jonas Munk’s work under the Manual moniker.  Like Munk, Port-Royal strikes a decent balance between the guitars and the electronic elements (which often have the same whirring, clicking nature of Munk’s electronics).  As a result, such songs as “Anya:Sehnsucht” and “Leitmotiv | Glasnost” are quite evocative over their lengthy running times, full of ghostly synth whispers and shimmering guitars drifting, aurora-like, over icily precise beats.

The skillful blending of electronics also allows for some delightful surprises to crop up here and there. “Deca-Dance” is Afraid To Dance‘s highlights, its crunchy, stomping electronic beat and undulating synths blending together with chiming guitars in a manner that’s amazingly dancey, even club-friendly (at least, for the kind of clubs one might find in Blade Runner‘s Los Angeles).

Eventually, the beat fades out, leaving behind the arpeggiated synths that play out in a gracefully melancholy denouement.  But no matter how many times I hear the song, my body instantly begins swaying to the beat as soon as “Deca-Dance” comes on, and that’s something Godspeed has never done for me. 

OPUSZINE.COM

 

Genoese quartet Port-Royal seemingly appeared from nowhere in 2005 when Resonant released the astonishingly assured debut album Flares. Part rock, part electronic, this was instrumental music on a truly epic scale, with two three part suites in “Zobione” and “Flares” exceeding twenty minutes. Every second was justified, though, on what was one of the finest releases of the year. Other bands have meshed electronic beats and guitars, but few as seamlessly. It was an album that never palled no matter how many times it was played.

To debut with something quite that good is nearly always bad news for a group as they spend the rest of their days failing to live up to their own standards. Afraid To Dance was recorded over a period of a year and a half between May 2005 and October 2006, so it’s not as if the album hasn’t had a lot of work put into it. And happily it’s paid off. In fact, Port-Royal have outdone themselves.

Sensibly Afraid To Dance uses the template of the group’s debut, but simultaneously stretches the music into new directions. Vocals have been added for the first time, sung by guest Giovanna Gallo, but these are used as extra instrumental colour rather than as the focal point of the two tracks that they appear on. There is also a greater variety of pace with “Deca-Dance” using a pounding techno beat where other tracks have a more languid tempo. Elsewhere there are echoes of acts as diverse as Global Communication, Labradford, Brian Eno, Robert Miles, Sigur Rós, Pink Floyd, Mogwai, Slowdive and Mezzanine-era Massive Attack. Like Flares, the album flows as one long piece, but is a more eclectic work, and more tightly edited.

Afraid To Dance shows that Flares was no fluke. Port-Royal mix electronica, ambient music and post-rock (I actually hate all these labels, but this isn’t music that’s easy to pin down in words) to create somthing truly their own. They are one of the most remarkable bands around at the moment. If a better record is released this year, I can’t wait to hear it. 

WORDPRESS.COM

 

"port-royal"

It's not saying much. I'm sure after a first review listen I should have more than just two words written on an otherwise spotless page?

"port-royal"

It's saying everything. So, probably, is the stupefied grin on my face. Indeed, as I resurface from my hour-long reverie, I half wonder whether a wet nurse came in at any point to wipe the drool from my face.

port-royal = fraternity. Which is why I'm rapidly reaching the stage where I believe there are two kinds of people in the world: those who love and appreciate the music of port-royal and those who simply haven't heard the Italians. If there is a third kind of animal – one who knows the Royals music but doesn't appreciate it - I've yet to sight it. File these dubious people alongside Bigfoot and the Abominable Snowman. Yet none of this is to suggest that I think port-royal are perfect for everyone. No band is. They just manage to find the people they're perfect for. In this sense, I'm acutely aware that 99% of you reading this already HAVE Afraid To Dance, and are merely checking in to see if I nail this one. The trouble is, I should be writing for the 1%.

port-royal have opted for a few subtle changes to distinguish this album from its lauded predecessor Flares. Some may claim these alterations to be semantics. In the wider picture, perhaps yes, but in port-royal's "attention to detail" world these are important iterations. Firstly this new album is more densely populated with beats. Where Flares made the sunrise chill-out spot its own, these compositions are aimed more at the preceding nights clubbing. The second and biggest difference may actually be structural. Flares presented itself as a whole entity. This album emphasizes certain tracks. As such, Anya: Sehnsucht, Deca-dance, Leitmotiv I Glasnost, and Putin Vs Valery (all pulsating examples of the new-look Royals) are each afforded a certain prominence whilst other pieces function in a supporting capacity. Anya: Sehnsucht has what I call that "whimsical childhood nostalgia" vibe going on. It is almost Boards Of Canada–like in this respect (think Rojgbiv), and may be the most radio friendly cut here. Deca Dance is a rollicking train ride in the tradition of Chemical Brothers, New Order, or Kraftwerk. It will, of course, eventually go the way of all port-royal pieces and disperse into a swirling cloud of atmospherics.

So to the crux of it. The Royals have certainly carved a niche and perfected their own, signature sound. This is so distinctive now that, at times, Afraid To Dance sounds like its own remix album. Tracks such as Internet love push the effect closer to medley. (Anyone who knows Mogwai's Gwai on 45 will understand what I mean here.) I don't see this as any great problem. port-royal career arch will probably mirror that of someone like Ulrich Schnauss anyway: i.e. expect them to become as prominent in the arena of remixing as they are with their own material. In the meantime, 99% of you can breathe a collective sigh of relief. If ever there was an argument for a two-word review, this might just be it because the only two words that could do justice to this music are….

"port-royal"

They've still got it. They've added something without losing any of that dreamy melancholia and the bottom line is, you NEED Afraid To Dance. Fantastic. Viva fraternity! 

EVILSPONGE.ORG

 

There aren't a lot of actual bands that make music this close to electronica. Music this tightly produced usually ends up the work of one or two people, and unless Afraid to Dance was made entirely in the studio, this Italian four-piece must share an incredible synergy. It's easy to see how Port-Royal would be pegged as post-rock with their mix of live instrumentation, electronics, and various found sounds; however, without the exaggerated dynamics of M83 or Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the band seems to be steering the genre closer to the ambient techno of M·m or Boards of Canada. The atmospherics that characterize most post-rock are still there, but this band finds their moments of zen in gorgeous interludes of carefully-controlled ambiance. The amount of restraint on this record is impressive in itself; despite the similarities to techno in their use of simple synth or guitar patterns and organic shifts in rhythm, Afraid to Dance is as far from the dancefloor as the title suggests. Even on tracks like "Anya: Sehnsucht" or "Deca-Dance," where things are kept fairly mid-tempo, the album is come-down music through and through.

If electronic music is a genre predicated on the use of available technology, than Port-Royal are certainly contributing something, even if the music itself isn't always entirely absorbing. The band seems to have taken a page from the book of Graham Sutton: they attempt to see how much varied instrumentation and effects they can fit within a distinct approach to production-in this case, a singular ambient haze. Like Bark Psychosis, Port-Royal's strength is in their ability to make sounds that might be abrasive or out of place in most contexts sound lush and un-intrusive. Most of the individual elements aren't particularly revelatory in and of themselves-guitars that mostly sound like guitars, and drum machines that could've been lifted from early Aphex Twin records -- but they're combined in distinct ways with haunted vocal samples and synthesizers rising faintly above the mix only to retreat again.

It's easy to see how, absent of any specific emotional platform, this could be seen as boring or lifeless. Granted, the band doesn't utilize the typical cathartic triggers of rock or electronic artists. Neither do they give in to apocalyptic crescendos or the typical nostalgic bent of most ambient music. The band's neutrality is calming; their restraint adds a strange kind of mystery to tracks like "Bahnhof Zoo" where ringing guitars and muddy percussion hint at a climax only to fade out and be replaced by slow, trance-y synths that take the track into something more restrained but equally suggestive. If M83 are all long grass and big fluffy clouds, Port-Royal are more nocturnal, shadowy, and allusive. The band's studious minimal drones make the unintelligible vocal sounds that hover at the beginning of "German Bigflies" all the more effective.

These sinews are where the band really shines, where the guitars and synths are so in sync that they often seem like faint impressions of each other, making it hard to tell where the sounds originate. These reverberations are what keep the rather rudimentary beats from being too tedious or distracting. It's the same immersive strategy that made the Field's From Here We Go Sublime so appealing, where rhythm is almost entirely subordinated to the drifting layers overtop; an empty canvas on which the band paints impressionistic sound scapes. These tracks, of course, are much slower, the Field's dance floor beats replaced by crunchy IDM percussion. Although, occasionally, the rhythm does add something: on the first part of "Leitmotiv/Glasnost" the synth line runs in a propulsive counter-rhythm to the drum machines.

If Afraid to Dance favours technique and production over the development of actual songs it nevertheless finds the band far enough ahead of most post-rock that they actually point towards new directions for the genre. I still feel as if there are two sides of this band fighting for precedence; one trying for a more updated version of ambient house, and one steering towards something more abstract and drone-based. The fact that the band incorporates both into their style keeps the music from being either too lulling or too rote and mechanical, giving the listener something that's warm, elegant, and mysterious all at once.

COKEMACHINEGLOW.COM

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