Portico Quartet

To uncover the first days of the Portico Quartet, we have to go back almost twenty years. In 2005, four school friends - drummer Duncan Bellamy, saxophonist Jack Wyllie, bassist Milo Fitzpatrick and multi-instrumentalist Nick Mulvey - decided to make music together. It began on the streets - the group was a well-known street act in London - and in a house that the four shared with electronica artist Jamie Woon. But when their début 'Knee-Deep in the North Sea’ made it to the 2007 short-list for the prestigious Mercury Prize, things really kicked off.

In 2021, they released 'Monument’, their seventh and most recent LP. If you compare this to their first albums, you cannot fail to notice a shift. This was due to the departure of Mulvey in 2011 and the addition of keyboard player Keir Vine. The new quartet became wrapped up in electronica and expanded their sound to a mix of jazz, ambient, classic and electronica but there was also a short detour, between 2015 and 2017, when Portico conducted a (successful) experiment with contemporary pop. The unique sound that has been formed over the years was roundly praised in 2021 by The Guardian, being described as 'a successful blend of Radiohead, The Cinematic Orchestra and Efterklang'. All this tells you that this performance is truly unmissable.

Line-up:

• Duncan Bellamy - Drums/Electronica
• Jack Wyllie - Sax
• Milo Fitzpatrick - Bass
• Tarek Modi - Hang drum/Keyboards