From Here To Your Eyes and Ears,
Portman
I've followed Portman over the years and watched them develop from their early incarnation as Dutch Oven, a piano-driven pop-punk act, into the Portman we see and hear today. At times Portman are nothing short of majestic; this record is rougher in terms of production than some of their earlier work but it suits the band very well. When the band rock out in a 'Four Minute Mile'-era The Get Up Kids way they're sublime and among the best UK bands around. It's when they slow it down and try and do a little too much, almost over-complicating matters, that the band aren't quite up to scratch. For this to have been a great record - near fautless in terms of recent UK releases - the band needed to have lost 5 or 6 songs and make it a shorter EP. The fact these songs remain means the score is perhaps a little lower than it otherwise would have been.
The band's influences are difficult to pin down. At times there's the predictable SoCo-esque vibe the band nailed on their earlier demos and EPs, but there's also a more grown up side to the band too. 'We Are Nihilists Lebowski' is very, very impressive track and is both clever lyrically and musically, showing a musical intelligence wiser than their years. It's a trait the band manage to capture on a number of occasions on this album. On the down side there are a couple of predictable slower acoustic tracks that don't really offer up much, while a couple of other tracks borrow a little
too heavily from modern sounds and bands.
'From Here To Your Eyes and Ears' is a very good album, only let down by a couple of average tunes which borrow too much from other bands. When
Portman up the pace and sound like themselves they're inventive and fun. If they can progress with this type of sound album number 2 could be very good indeed.
