Album of the Week: Portugal. The Man- Evil Friends

I had to travel more than usual the past week, so I had plenty of time to check out some new records while driving. Combined with the sunny weather and the new Portugal. The Man, those trips weren’t that bad at all.

Portugal. The Man is a band from Portland, Oregon but has its roots in Alaska. They are quite productive: 8 releases since 2003. You might think: do they put quantity over quality? Well, they’ve managed to keep the quality on quite a high level as well! Not all albums are equally great, but there’s a certain consistency in PTM’s work.
Their newest effort, Evil Friends, was produced by Danger Mouse and this can be heard in the poppyness of the album. Portugal. The Man has never sounded so radio-friendly, a lot of their other works are weird and psychedelic. But the good thing about Evil Friends is that it unmistakably has the PTM sound. You just wish they’d play tunes like Creep in a t-shirt, Modern Jesus and Atomic Man on your local radio station instead of all those generic pop songs. The aforementioned songs are super catchy and easy to sing along with. Warning: they might get stuck in your head..

It’s not that I’m evil... I just don’t like to pretend I could ever be your friend.



Lines like these (with some small alterations) are the lyrical core of both Creep in a t-shirt and Evil Friends, which makes the songs flow nicely. The entire album has a lovely summer-vibe, and some songs (especially Atomic Man) have a slight Black Rebel Motorcycle Club- sauce over them (it must be the guitars and John Gourley’s vocals). Modern Jesus is quite different from what PTM has done in the past, and is one of the standout tracks on the album. It’s laidback, catchy and instantly makes you happy when singing “the only faith we have is faith in us”. The entire album has quite a lot of quirky oneliners, which suit the uplifting music quite nicely.

It is the first half of the album that stands out, but that doesn’t give the other songs enough credit. Evil Friends is a 9 out of 10 album: only Holler Roller (Hallelujah) is a bit off. It's a good thing it's followed up by the amazing Someday Believers (that choir! that piano!) and Purple Yellow Red and Blue which is just wonderfully weird.



I just hope Portugal. The Man will get some more recognition and airplay, because they sure as hell deserve it! Maybe Evil Friends is their ticket to a bigger audience.. it’s already my Summer ’13 soundtrack.