Album Review: Portugal. The Man - The Satanic Satanist

Some bands tend to make recordings that invite introspection or self-consciousness. Listening to Pink Floyd's "Time," for example, is like hearing your brain's gears at work. Other bands create music that you want to hear while moving through the world. Portugal. The Man's The Satanic Satanist is a collection of this latter type of music. And it swings like it could be the indie rock fan's soundtrack to the summer.

The sound on Satanist is dark and bluesy, with electric rhythm guitar up front in the mix that's often accompanied by keyboard. Lead singer John Baldwin Gourney is magnetic at times, though I have to add that his voice is almost a dead ringer for Adam Levine's of Maroon 5. But the sound is only part of the feel. These melodies that the band has summoned are entirely fresh and invigorating. On "The Sun," the backing vocals paint a lush picture in broad swaths with the line "We are all, we are all just lovers." "The Woods" is a soulful, beat-driven groove with some great lyrical repetition throughout. And the closer, "Mornings," features breathtaking lead guitar riffery alternating with Gourney's most intense vocal performance on the album. The song rolls thundering to the finish line with lyrics like "The sunrise that builds into days & even more days/And as it rolls burning burning up like the trails of the comets pulled tails."

Portugal. The Man seem to have come upon a particular moment in their creative journey at which they've achieved the cinematic touch. They are in a place where they can make records that move us and compel us to move. Fittingly, only one or two songs on The Satanic Satanist don't flow without pause into the next track. It's as if Portugal. The Man are aware of their grasp of the kinetic capacity of music, and they don't dare let go.

The only hesitation I have as I listen to this album concerns track 1, "People Say." In one sense, it's a fun song with a tight and catchy chord progression. However, if I were forced to draw a comparison to other music, I'd call "People Say" the awkward child of an Oasis-O.A.R. marriage. And that's the post-Morning Glory Oasis. Putting the most accessible song in the first slot of your album isn't a bad choice in most instances. But here Portugal. The Man almost patronize their first-time listeners, rather than intrigue them. Big picture: this is merely a misstep in an otherwise spectacular collection.

So the force is with Portugal. The Man, yes. Not having heard much from the band's prior releases, I can't say where this album sits on the group's trajectory. But they do have a show coming up at the Mercury Lounge in August that I will certainly try to get out for. And after hearing Satanist on repeat for the past two days, I think it's safe to say that the band has hit one on the sweet spot.

You can hear the entire album at Lala: http://www.lala.com/#album/360569445921457774

And if you like it as much as I do, order the CD. It comes in some trippy fold-out packaging.