Shish

About

Portugal. The Man ringleader John Gourley has called Portland home since the mid-2000s, but his native Alaska is always on his mind. His psych-pop troupe’s 10th album is named for a remote fishing village on the state’s Seward Peninsula and it opens with two turbulent tracks—the cosmic-rock collage “Denali” and the mutant hardcore blitz “Pittman Ralliers”—inspired by the state’s infamous volcanic peak, Mt. McKinley. Fitting for a record that ruminates on our precarious relationship with the environment, <i>SHISH</i> can be as unpredictably calming and chaotic as nature itself, often within the span of a single song: “Tyonek” begins as a serene snapshot of life in the Arctic before triggering an avalanche of nu-metal riffage; the dulcet indie-pop groove of “Knik” erupts into a fuzzed-out out finale capped by a glammy, fretboard-busting guitar solo. <i>SHISH</i> is the sound of Portugal. The Man doubling down on their refusal to be pigeonholed as the feel-good hitmakers of the “Feel It Still” era, but the album rewards your endurance with the string-swept “Tanana,” an equally despairing and life-affirming anthem about finding strength and joy in the ones you love as the world burns.

via Apple Music