Portugal. The Man – In the Mountain in the Cloud – Vinyl Record

Description

Portugal. The Man – In the Mountain in the Cloud – Vinyl Record

Portugal. The Man's In the Mountain in the Cloud brings the band's psychedelic instincts into an album with a notably clear pop shape. Released in 2011 as its first album for Atlantic, it places John Gourley's voice at the center of songs that reach for big melodies without losing their odd corners. The arrangements have plenty going on, but the choruses remain easy to find. That combination gives the record an inviting surface while leaving room for changes in texture, overlapping vocal parts, and the sense that the band might take a familiar idea somewhere slightly unexpected.

John Hill produced the album, with Gourley and Casey Bates contributing as co-producers and Andy Wallace handling the mix. The core players include bassist Zach Carothers, keyboardist Ryan Neighbors, and drummer Jason Sechrist. Phil Peterson's string and horn contributions expand the palette beyond the rock band itself. Those added colors are useful to a record that often thinks in broad melodic gestures. Rather than filling every available space, the arrangements give Gourley's high vocal lines something to play against, allowing a song to become expansive while keeping its main idea recognizable.

So American and Got It All (This Can't Be Living Now) establish the album's knack for making substantial arrangements feel approachable. Their melodies provide a direct route into the music, even as the band builds layers around them. Floating (Time Isn't Working My Side) and Head Is a Flame (Cool With It) continue that interplay between an immediate song and a more elaborate setting. Portugal. The Man had already developed a taste for psychedelic sounds before this release; here, those interests become part of the songwriting itself, shaping how a tune moves rather than simply decorating it with unusual effects.

The album's psychedelic character owes as much to the voices as to the instrumental colors. Gourley's high register can give a melody a weightless quality, and the layered vocals make the songs feel larger without obscuring their hooks. All Your Light (Times Like These) and Everything You See (Kids Count Hallelujahs) fit naturally into that setting, where the band can bring a bright vocal sound together with a firm rock rhythm. There is a taste for the theatrical in these arrangements, but it stays close to the songs. A chorus, a backing-vocal entrance, or an instrumental color can supply the lift.

Sleep Forever closes the album with room for the band's larger-scale ambitions, bringing the melodic and atmospheric sides of In the Mountain in the Cloud together. This is a useful record for anyone interested in the group's development before the later success of Feel It Still. The confident hooks are already present, as is the willingness to stretch a song beyond a simple guitar-band arrangement. Gourley's voice, the ensemble's rhythmic footing, and the added orchestral colors give the album a sound of its own. It captures Portugal. The Man opening its music to a wider audience while retaining the curiosity that had shaped its earlier work.

Brand new, never played and still sealed in the factory plastic

Release Details

Artist

Portugal. The Man

Album

In the Mountain in the Cloud

Format

Vinyl Record

Number of vinyl records

1

Original album release

2011

Label

Atlantic Records

Track Listing

Side A

So American

Floating (Time Isn't Working My Side)

Got It All (This Can't Be Living Now)

Senseless

Head Is a Flame (Cool With It)

You Carried Us (Share With Me the Sun)

Side B

Everything You See (Kids Count Hallelujahs)

All Your Light (Times Like These)

Once Was One

Share With Me the Sun

Sleep Forever