THE PORTRAITS – Lions And Butterflies (Sensorypulse Records SPCD006)

THE PORTRAITS Lions And ButterfliesWhat you might not know about music critics’ jobs is that the work can be boring, if not down right disheartening. Go ahead and roll your eyes now and grumble about first-world problems. Yes, critics have posh jobs.

Still it’s tiresome to hear artists’ sermonize about “organic” processes that lead them to give voice to the downtrodden, while many offerings – especially from U.S. artists but, as an American, I’m biased – sound as if they rolled off an assembly line sporting all the individuality of Henry Ford’s original Model T.

It’s difficult not to become jaded.

Then you happen across alluring British folk-classical-New Age fusion – in this case The Portraits’ newest album Lions And Butterflies – and you experience a burst of joy similar to the ones you experienced as a kid when you first discovered artists whose music spoke directly to your heart.

What sets Lions And Butterflies – which will be released on October 2nd – apart is not just the delicate blend of folk, jazz and classical sounds or the rhapsodic melding of the voices of husband-and-wife duo Jeremy and Lorraine Millington.

The Portraits’ music is powerful because it springs from deeply, reflective individual musings on a wide spectrum of conditions. One look at the artists’ extensive song commentary proves the point.

Songs take shape around such divergent topics as work by novelist David Nicholls, reflections on the underlying meanings possible in the South African nightscape, and the overwhelming sorrow that likely consumed Bob Geldof when his daughter Peaches died.

Powerful stuff.

Perhaps the duo’s meticulous examination and presentation of their ruminations on life’s condition isn’t surprising when you consider the passion they brought to recording the single ‘The Rest of Time,’ which spotlights the tragedy of deaths due to blood cancers. Rather than call on celebrities for a poppy, ‘We Are the World’-reminiscent project, the duo recorded voices of 2,000 people across the U.K., and released a song so catchy that it charted on iTunes.

What makes The Portrait’s music stand out, though, is that it shape shifts (with apologies to Robert Plant) into whatever state the listener chooses.

Yes, ‘Walls of Silence,’ the Nicholls-inspired piece, is about the seeming futility of succeeding in London and other creative mega cities, but it’s also a soothing mid-tempo rollick. And while ‘Exile’ may be written as commentary on the state of Russia during the past few decades, it’s easy to close your eyes and drift into the delicate harmonies that soar over the violin and soft percussion.

You can focus on the smart discussion about class commentary on ‘Small but Strong,’ as a fervent call-to-arms but it’s also a soulful, mid-tempo mix of classical and folk.

Whether you choose to absorb The Portraits’ musical messages or simply let the elegant but accessible tapestry of guitar, violin, cello, upright bass, and other instrumentation mix with silky vocals that envelope you is your choice.

But Lions And Butterflies, proves that music is not dead, as Sinead O’Connor and others lament. It just needs to be championed.

Nancy Dunham

Artists’ website: http://www.theportraitsmusic.com

‘Fairy Lights’. The Portraits live at Glastonbury 2014: