Censored Colors

Under the mainstream radar, Alaska's favorite sons, Portugal. The Man is a band that has been steadily building a devoted fan base and amassing kudos from an array of media outlets like Filter ("Portugal. The Man hasn't merely evolved from the avant-garde, neo-soul that shaped their earliest works, they've transcended it."), AbsolutePunk ("Portugal. The Man is one of the most unique and original groups of current time."), and ("...it's the songs that truly set this band apart.") Alternative Press.

Portugal. The Man's newest album features fifteen fiercely transcendent vignettes. The band calls the collection Censored Colors - side one is a half-dozen single tracks, while side two consists of a long suite of compositions, segued together into one seamless presentation. The music materialized in January 2008 quickly, born from the band's ravenous creative appetite, many months of dedicated touring and their rare commitment to challenging songcraft, all set against a canvas of Seattle winter skies. They did it without outside financial backing and label support; content instead to rely upon their faith in each other, their music and the steady guidance of friends/multi-instrumentalists/producers Phil Peterson and Kirk Huffman (two-thirds of the genre-defying Seattle trio Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground).

Describing the product of that faith is no impossibility. But, like quantifying an emotion, merely articulating Censored Colors' countless aesthetic graces is not the optimal way to take its measure. "We've always wanted to make a really heavy record mellow," reveals vocalist/guitarist/songwriter John Baldwin Gourley. "And I think this time we did it."