REVIEW: Portion Control - Surface And Be Seen.

"'Dining on the Fresh'," said John Whybrew, "was a bit lighthearted. The 12" will be our more serious stuff." Almost two years on from their first blast of synthetic sound (the "A Fair Portion" cassette), Portion Control are badly in need of a definitive statement. They've got much more refind since the early chaos of buzzes and squeaks - the disciplines and concentration of live performance have thaught them valuable lessons - but "pop dispasability" such as even the format of their last release, "Dining on the Fresh", seemed to aim for an quickly become annoyingly smug. And what you gonna do when the novelty has gone?

If the answer is to produce something as good as "Surface and be Seen" then there's nothing to worry about at all. Unlike their extensive back catalogue, it's a demanding record which well rewards your attention. "Spinola (Bloch)", the opening track, could be a familiarly ephemeral synth-mess-around, but the electronic rythm track around which it's structured is so outlandish as to be almost "unmusical", only hanging together by the timely intervention of a piercing, but recognisably tonal, riff. Very daring.

From then on, the music takes on a more brooding, even sinister, atmosphere. "Terror Leads To Better Days" builds a lusciously thic texture, shuffles through several intriguing phases and surfaces to a sudden, hollow end. "Simple as abc", which starts Side 2, is even more oppressive with its heavy beat and chanted lyrics. "Monstrous Bulk", with its strange background dissonance, provides a break before the show-stropper, "He is a Barbarian", the most powerful piece I've ever heard them play. A long instrumental builds through glockanspiels, searing melodies and percussion motifs to a sparing, double-tracked lyric which ends on the enigmatic statement "the bay was silent" and fades out as if disturbed by its own power.

It's a finely onestructured piece of work that is firm evidence of increasingly mature musical minds. Okay, Messre Whybrew, Sharp and Piavani, we can see you now, but why did you take such a long time to surface?

By Des de Moor

© Des de Moor 1981. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Digital assistance and credit: Phil Barnad