Chris Black Changed My Life [Milky White Vinyl] [B&N Exclusive] in Bloomington, MN

There may not be a more difficult to pin down band in pop music than
Portugal. The Man
. Led by singer/songwriter
John Gourley
, the Alaska-born, Portland-based outfit has carved out a distinctive niche on the pop landscape since 2006, exploring a literate, cut-n-paste brand of indie rock that's artfully left of center while still consciously embracing many of the dance, R&B, and electronic traditions that one might expect in modern contemporary pop. It's an eclectic approach that helped make their 2017 album, the '60s psych-influenced
Woodstock
, and its Grammy-winning single, "Feel It Still," such a surprising breakthrough. Following an extended hiatus,
have built upon that globally minded, stylistically varied approach with 2023's
Chris Black Changed My Life
. The album is named after the group's close friend, filmmaker
Chris Black
, who toured with them in 2016 as a kind of unofficial DJ and hype man, and who died tragically in 2019 just as his career was taking shape.
Black
's death, as well as
Gourley
's own need to decompress and rethink the group's creative direction in the wake of
's success, found
taking a long-needed break before reentering the studio. Thankfully, the time away finds them recharged. Produced with
Jeff Bhasker
(the musical polymath behind projects for
Mark Ronson
,
Kanye West
Fun.
, and others),
is just as musically open-minded as its predecessor, full of fizzy anthems that feel like the band are spinning through their car's radio dial on a hot summer's day. There's the groovy "Grim Generation," with its opening lyrical nod to
Gary Wright
's 1971 classic "Dream Weaver," that sounds like
the Archies
remixed by
Danger Mouse
. We also get "Summer of Luv," a slinky collaboration with New Zealand's
Unknown Mortal Orchestra
, replete with soul-jazz saxophone, that brings to mind something along the lines of
Beck
jamming with
Kamasi Washington
. Yet more woozy psych-pop atmospheres pop up elsewhere, as on "Thunderdome [W.T.A.]," a folky, hip-hop-infused jam featuring
the Roots
'
Black Thought
and Mexican vocalist
Natalia Lafourcade
. Still, there are shadows that come with all this pop sun, and
sink into several moody, if not less catchy, goths-at-the-beach-style anthems with "Dummy" and "Plastic Island," songs that seem to speak to the band's grief over
's death and
's wry sense of irony over his own social anxiety. On "Dummy" he sings, "Way my phone is ringing/Paint a tunnel on the wall/Escape before the anvil falls/Gotta keep it moving/Gotta pick up the groove and let go/Everyone I know/Is running from the afterlife." With
have crafted a warm and hooky homage to their friend; it's a vibe that sticks with you. ~ Matt Collar