DESCRIPTION:
The Portico Quartet are a bunch of guys in their early twenties who play instrumental music. Formed six years ago from two sets of schoolfriends, they share a house in East London, make recordings, and play festivals and clubs. Yet what distinguishes them from dozens of other Hackney hopefuls is the way they sound -- a fresh, unclichéd resynthesis and reinvention of music that's both pleasingly familiar and thrillingly new, like World Music from the future. With largely acoustic resources -- percussion, bass and wind instruments -- they have conjured and refined a group signature that's immediately recognisable. Thanks to the use of the hang, a tuned percussion instrument bought on impulse at a music festival, they have a sound that is instantly attractive, yet uncompromisingly individual, and it's this, combined with the cheerful eloquence of their performances, that has brought Portico Quartet a long way in a short time.