About

- The Analog Vault // Essential Listening -

Portishead built upon the foundations laid by its trip hop predecessors to popularise the genre with a sensuous, shadowy, and sultry debut album for the ages.

Led by the chilling, wounded fragility of Beth Gibbons’ sombre vocals and the spectacularly desolate atmosphere crafted by multi-instrumentalist Geoff Barrow, Dummy’s entrancing amalgamation of slow-beat blues, jazz- inflected soul, dark breakbeats and hip-hop scratches feels like it was composed to backdrop the most mysterious film noir that was never filmed.

As cool as it is warm, as sexy as it is sad, as lonely as it is lovely - Dummy is a strangely irresistible, avant-garde exploration of trip hop’s smokiest bars and gloomiest alleyways. An absolutely sublime gem. - The Analog Vault

Portishead's album debut is a brilliant, surprisingly natural synthesis of claustrophobic spy soundtracks, dark breakbeats inspired by frontman Geoff Barrow's love of hip-hop, and a vocalist (Beth Gibbons) in the classic confessional singer/songwriter mold.

Beginning with the otherworldly theremin and martial beats of "Mysterons," Dummy hits an early high with "Sour Times," a post-modern torch song driven by a Lalo Schifrin sample. The chilling atmospheres conjured by Adrian Utley's excellent guitar work and Barrow's turntables and keyboards prove the perfect foil for Gibbons, who balances sultriness and melancholia in equal measure.

Occasionally reminiscent of a torchier version of Sade, Gibbons provides a clear focus for these songs, with Barrow and company behind her laying down one of the best full-length productions ever heard in the dance world.

Where previous acts like Massive Attack had attracted dance heads in the main, Portishead crossed over to an American, alternative audience, connecting with the legion of angst-ridden indie fans as well.

Better than any album before it, Dummy merged the pinpoint-precise productions of the dance world with pop hallmarks like great songwriting and excellent vocal performances. - John Bush, AllMusic