Portico Quartet - Knee-Deep in the North Sea [Deluxe Edition] (2011)

In 2007 Portico Quartet moved from busking on the South Bank in London to a recording studio and, with the remains of the money from their student grants, created their first album, 'Knee Deep In The North Sea' (released on Babel/Vortex). This was a turning point for the band, the album attracted attention from DJs, bloggers and critics of every stripe, and was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Music Prize. Now, re-released on Real World Records, 'Knee Deep In The North Sea' has been remixed by John Leckie (The Stone Roses, Radiohead, Muse and producer of Isla) and features three new tracks.

"..it is the added 20 minutes of live tracks that make this a repurchase. Best is a version of the title track recorded in Copenhagen, which builds the drama with long, trippy opening and free-form sax climax. It shows how the quartet's confidence to let the music breathe on-stage has grown." -- Mojo ****

"John Leckie has added depth and detail to lend a more complexly wrought studio texture to the original record's more austere charm. If something is lost, something is gained too, as Leckie's soundboard moves Portico's inventive jazz/classical noodlings even closer to Radiohead, to whom they were compared on original release."
-- Uncut ****