There’s a lot going on within Church Mouth, but the listener isn’t bombarded with zithers and mandolins. None of the songs have long instrumental passages symptomatic of prog and the production has an elusive textural feel, which is so important to a band with such a frenetic sound. The result is that Church Mouth is radio-friendly, but not necessarily tailor-made for radio – something that is deceptively hard to pull off and I applaud the band for this achievement.
With Church Mouth, Portugal. The Man has chosen timely influences and wisely at that. Fans familiar with bands such as White Stripes, Queens of the Stone Age and Silversun Pickups will find plenty to like about this album, if they don’t mind a little flair for prog. One can only speculate as to the album’s lasting appeal, but it’s a very ‘now’ sound and one that is worthy of attention by both the casual and the serious Indie fan.
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