Album Review: Portugal. The Man - Evil Friends

For the best part of decade Alaska's Portugal. The Man have been adrift in the endless wastelands of indie and psychedelic rock. Some of their past obscurity is, I'm sure, indebted to their frankly daft moniker (it in fact refers to the idea of summarizing up an entire country as a single individual. I would like to think that New Zealand. The Man would be both personable and scruffy looking, perpetually holding a beer in one hand). For album number seven, the aptly titled Evil Friends, these crafty rockers have enlisted the secret weapon that many acts have been using to test the waters of commercial and critical success. That weapon is producer savant Danger Mouse. Hey, if its good enough for James Mercer, Sparklehorse, Cee Lo Green, and The Black Keys then its good enough for anybody. Danger Mouse not only has his own inimitable style but he also has a great talent for coaxing new sounds out of whoever he is working with. The band's natural propensity for trippiness is tempered by a real focus on song-craft.

However no such close encounter with future fame has changed P.TM. Their trademark snarky humour and disheveled charm remains intact, just packaged in a more accessible format. 'Creep in a T-Shirt' is an excellent example of this rebooted attitude; wonky guitar riffs clattering off the even wonkier piano and the whole hot mess is anchored in John Baldwin Gourley's idiosyncratic vocals. It feels a lot like stumbling out of a dense post-prog haze – like a hangover that makes you feel inexplicably good about yourself and the universe in general. Everything comes to a euphoric head on 'Purple Yellow Red and Blue', a paisley-hued singalong that wears its influences proudly on its sleeve. It is seriously like overdosing inside of a mirrorball and the repeated refrain of “I just wanna be evil” will stay with you for days.

But there is still plenty of joy to be found between these two poles. Spirited roof-raisers such as 'Holy Roller (Hallelujah)' and 'Atomic Man' get the blood pumping and generally make quite a scene. The song that really stands out as not quite belonging there is the introspective album closer 'Smile', but final tracks do have a habit of turning down the intensity a bit. Taken as a whole though Evil Friends can appeal to fans of Broken Bells and MGMT and much more besides, making this a perfectly palatable record. Like it or not the Danger Mouse name brings a lot of legitimacy to an associated artist and helps them reach a wider audience. Portugal. The Man are ready to reap these benefits. This is a fun album all around. Sometimes its good to throw off the shackles of the daily grind and lose yourself in a joyous sonic fantasy, and that is exactly what Evil Friends provides.

Rating: B+

Recommended tracks: Purple Yellow Red and Blue, Creep in a T-Shirt