There Is No Other Place

Portishead - Machine Gun

In contrast to the previous post, Portishead’s ‘Machine Gun’ is more suited to post-midnight listening than Summer. It’s not so much a shade darker as a completely different part of the spectrum - the colour of darkness consisting of deep blues and swirling purples.

Two sparse drumbeats play throughout in almost a call and response style with Beth Gibbon’s fragile voice trapped in between. The machine-gun-like percussion elements dominate the track just as on Prodigy’s ‘Spitfire’ only without Juliet Lewis screeching over the surface. The haunting vocals are instead submerged deep down within, creating a sense of dread that surrounds like smoke.