Description:	CD on Mornington Records
	Format:	CD
	Genre(s):	Neoclassical
	Label:	Mornington
	Price:	£11.09
	Availability:	Dispatched within 2-5 days (on average).

4
...according to our Brian on 24 July 2008.

Ted Barnes 'Portal Now' now. He's a man is Ted, a man's man. But he don't make music for truckers. Oh no. He makes intriguing junk shop honky tonk neo classical cinematic folk music out of bits of string & baby elephants. Then he splices it all up on his mega ACME bomp-rock machine and presses the sonic flange button and.....hey presto! A load of slightly wistful sound from a byegone era starts licking your earlobes! The second tune has female vocals that make you feel like you're in a really old B&W flick watching a brokenhearted lady part from her estranged lover, it's very lovely stuff and she has the most pure voice indeed! He's got lots of ideas & influences definitely, flecks of Waitsian doom, gypsy folk & homely Parisian cafe jazz, like a cheerier Rachels the boys agree. Its quite difficult to sum up as a whole but it's a cool little diversion is this CD and he even ropes Beth Orton in for one track. So, many moods over the course of 14 quite charming tracks. I need to spend some more time with this album!

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What their label says...

This summer sees the release of PORTAL NOU, the much-anticipated third album by renowned British musician TED BARNES and the debut release on Ted’s own label Mornington Records.Written and recorded between his home on the Kent coast and time spent on the Regents Canal in London, and inspired by the recent birth of his son, the record marks a new phase in Barnes’ personal and musical life. Although it still displays some of the melancholia of his previous work, PORTAL NOU, which is Spanish for ‘new gateway,’ is lighter and appropriately buoyant. Coming after the widely critically acclaimed and characteristically dark second album, ‘Underbelly’, the new record offers a more optimistic outlook and brings with it elements of humour and a playfulness. Somewhat of a departure for Barnes, the album is also the first to include songs for which he has written lyrics (‘All That’s Real’, ‘Dreams & Hopes’), alongside a body of instrumental tracks. It also features an impressive array of guest lyricists and vocalists, many with whom he is a long-term collaborator, including Beth Orton, Gavin Clark (Sunhouse / Clayhill / Unkle), Francoiz Breut (Calexico / Yan Tierson), Dan Michaelson (Absentee) and Kathryn Williams. Restrained yet incredibly powerful, Barnes treats the voice as another instrument rather than the overriding force of a song, and manages to create a hypnotic and absorbing continuity throughout the album.Through the beautifully paired down introduction, ‘Singing Glasses’, which runs almost seamlessly into the intriguing ‘Ghosts in the Cupboard’ the listener is drawn into a world of curiosity and adventure. From the enchanting ‘All That’s Real’ ‘and ‘Caught Out’ to the haunting ‘Squeezebox’, and throughout the consistently mesmerising PORTAL NOU, the listener is made to feel part of a storytelling experience; seduced in the most innocent way by its captivating, filmic qualities. Like the soundtrack to a romantic French film, its deceptively simple melodies and rhythms belie deeper goings on and hint at the beguiling characters hidden within. Combining guitar, piano, strings, double bass, beats and electronics with toy and found instruments, Barnes’ genius lies in carefully crafting soundscapes that have a spontaneous charm. With PORTAL NOU and its collision of English pastoral idylls, junk shop cacophonies and Parisian romance, he has once again created a unique musical experience.