Third (Portishead album)
| Third | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Portishead | ||||
| Released | 28 April 2008 | |||
| Recorded | 2005–2008 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 49:17 | |||
| Label | Island | |||
| Producer | Portishead | |||
| Portishead chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Third | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 85/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| The A.V. Club | A− |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+ |
| The Guardian | |
| Los Angeles Times | |
| NME | 9/10 |
| Pitchfork Media | 8.8/10 |
| Rolling Stone |  |
| Spin | |
| The Times | |
Third is the third studio album by the English band Portishead, released on 28 April 2008 on Island Records in the United Kingdom, 29 April on Mercury Records in the United States and 30 April on Universal Music Japan in Japan. Portishead's first studio album in 11 years, it moved away from the trip hop style the band had popularised, incorporating influences such as krautrock, surf rock, doo wop and the film soundtracks of John Carpenter. It was listed as one of the best albums of 2008 by several publications, entered the top ten of several countries' music charts, and has Gold certification in the UK.
In 1998, following three years of Portishead tours and a divorce, drummer and songwriter Geoff Barrow put the band on hiatus and went to Australia. He told Drowned in Sound: "I couldn't find anything I liked musically in anybody, in anything." Portishead guitarist and keyboardist Adrian Utley joined him to work on new material, but they were not satisfied with the results.
In 2003, Barrow wrote "Magic Doors", which he described as "an opening ... then we ended up going back and forth, hating everything and then liking everything, and we had to decide whether to carry on." He and Utley co-produced the 2005 Coral album The Invisible Invasion; the process proved inspiring, as, according to Barrow, "here’s me and Ade, these older dudes, too scared to even play a note because we were scared we’d hate it, and there’s them, just being able to write a soundtrack in an afternoon."
Portishead self-produced Third in their Bristol studios. Many of the album's songs existed for years as sketches, with the members exchanging recordings and adding ideas. By 2006, Portishead had prepared "six or seven" tracks; Barrow said most of the record was written during a "spurt" at the end of 2007.
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