Portugal. The Man - Censored Colors
by Mark Hensch
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Portugal. The Man's Censored Colors is a wild, irrational kaleidoscope of experiences. The songs range from the mystical to the stark, the soulful to the nihilistic. Over the course of Colors' fifteen cuts, a musical prism refracts various beams of sound back at the listener. From soul to psychedelia to folk to classic rock, Portugal has crafted an eclectic sound equal parts confidence and subtlety. Even the format of the album is unique – the first half is intended as a collection of singles, while the second exists as one uninterrupted musical composition.
It definitely makes for a vibrant explosion in one's senses. Opening cut "Lay Me Back Down," for starters, grooves with thick bass while rattling speakers with a jangly, surreal ballad loaded with fuzzy guitar crunch. Following this, the whimsical "Colors" takes the folksier moments of the Beatles and bolsters it with wailing choirs, moody strings, and jumpy percussion rhythms.
What happens after these is any listener's interpretation. "Salt" shimmies by on sparkling, exotic chords before erupting into an ethereal rock anthem. "Out and In and In and Out," meanwhile, feels like a stripped-down "Kashmir," the song blooming not in hard rock but in transcendently lush orchestral arrangements. "New Orleans" – easily the band's finest moment – casually strolls through quiet tribal rhythms before building a saxophone into a raging inferno of sound backed by a chorus of damned souls. After this, "Never Pleased" rips like a Technicolor nightmare straight from the Mars Volta back catalog. "Hard Times," meanwhile, is more hard rock, existing as Portugal's leaden rock anthem. Last but not least, the tender "1989" serving up a polished, otherworldly slab of keyboard shoegazing.
Like spilled paint on white paper, the glory of Censored Colors is its rich abstractness. Always bright, layered, and complex, the music on offer here is so diverse that almost any kind of music fan will be pleased upon hearing it – the end result lies in each personal interpretation. Though blatantly progressive, much of Colors maintains an oldschool feel to it, and it is perhaps this aura that makes Colors what it is. Put simply, Portugal seems unafraid to tinker with rock's tried and true formulas, something that their greatest forebears did well before them. Take a listen to this and see if you agree.
Portugal. The Man's Censored Colors
1. Lay Me Back Down
2. Colors
3. And I
4. Salt
5. Created
6. Out and In and In and Out
7. Intermission
8. New Orleans
9. Never Pleased
10. Sit Back and Dream
11. Hard Times
12. Our Times
13. All Mine
14. 1989
15. Our Way
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Portugal. The Man - Censored Colors
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