Portugal. The Man

Censored Colors

[4.5/5]

Censored Colors, Portugal. The Man’s third full-length, crackles with the kind of salt-of-the-earth soul inspiration for which most indie bands would hack off their Sam Beam beards. Following last year’s transcendental Church Mouth and free of their contract with Fearless Records, John Gourley & Co. have assembled an album that is impossibly cohesive and gloriously disparate, with songs that equally evoke vintage Led Zeppelin (“Out And In And In And Out”) and Marvin Gaye (“Created”). The album’s greatest strength is its start-to-finish steadiness; sure, opening pair “Lay Me Back Down” and the spirit-filled title track deliver big, tripped out goods early on, but eight (check the moaning sax in “New Orleans”), 13 (“All Mine,” complete with Gourley’s shimmering falsetto), even 15 songs in (the closing track “Our Way”), Censored Colors keeps the energy up. It also establishes Portugal. The Man as one of the truly great bands of this generation. (EQUAL VISION) Casey Lynch