Portishead's Fourth

The band confirm they're planning another record

15 December 2008 - Portishead say there were a few moments of doubt, but they're confident that they're in the right place now to make another record.

The band have just recorded an exclusive session for 6 Music, with unique takes on four of the tracks from this year's album Third.

You can hear those on Nemone's show this week on 6 Music. And talking to Nemone, Geoff Barrow says it took a while for them decide another record was the right choice:

"It did take a long time because we just didn't want to repeat ourselves again really, there's no real point.

"We'd actually prefer to stop altogether if we were just going to roll out the old kinda sound really."

"When everyone's had a bit of a break, I think we're just going to plough onto it."
Geoff Barrow

But after a few and chat's they've decided they're all ready to try a new direction, as Geoff said:

"I think we're kind of there now. We've sat down and we've talked about even like the direction and stuff like that. "Everyone seems really positive about it."

It looks like 2009 could be another productive year for Portishead, after such a long gap between their second and third records.

Geoff says they're keen to get cracking in the studio, and to go back out on the road:

"When everyone's had a bit of a break, I think we're just going to plough onto it.

"And I think everybody at some point wants to get back out on the road, because we didn't really do an awful lot of live stuff."

It also doesn't look unlikely that the band could try something creative with the release of the record. As Geoff explained:

"What's really interesting is that we're in this lucky position now. We haven't got a record company; our deal eneded and so did our publishing deal.

"So we pretty much own all of our own rights now, which is scary as well as exciting really, so we're thinking of loads of different ways of doing things."

Lucy O'Doherty