After the huge success of their critically acclaimed second album, Isla (released last year on Peter Gabriel's Real World records), Portico Quartet hit the ground running in 2010 with their most ambitious UK tour to date, including their biggest show yet at the Barbican on March 8th.

Portico Quartet are Jack Wyllie (sax and loops), Milo Fitzpatrick (double bass), Nick Mulvey (Hang) and Duncan Bellamy (drums and Hang), four young musicians from East London who started a band together after the chance purchase of a 'hang' at a music festival in 2005.

In just a few years Portico Quartet's hypnotic music has taken them from busking, to a Mercury Prize nomination, to performing at the Royal Opera House and recording their most recent album Isla at Abbey Road with producer John Leckie (Stone Roses, Radio Head etc). Portico Quartet are also set to feature in the The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special, being directed by Morgan Spurlock (30 Days, Super Size Me).

Musically, Isla is a darker, more mature, expansive statement than their Mercury nominated debut, Knee-Deep In The North Sea, with the addition of loop pedals, real-time electronics and strings arranged by the band’s bassist Milo Fitzpatrick.

Watch video:

Portico Quartet March 2010 tour dates:

(Dates and information subject to change.)

5 March SWANSEA Pontardawe Arts Centre 01792 863 722 boxoffice.npt.gov.uk
8 March LONDON Barbican 7.30pm / £10-£20 020 7638 8891 barbican.org.uk
11 March KENDAL Brewery Arts Centre 7.30pm / £12.50 01539 725133 breweryarts.co.uk
12 March LIVERPOOL Philharmonic Hall 8.30pm / £14.50 0151 709 3789 liverpoolphil.com
13 March GATESHEAD The Sage Gateshead 8pm / £15/ £13 0191 443 4661 thesagegateshead.org
14 March MANCHESTER Band On The Wall 7.30pm / £10 0845 2500 500 bandonthewall.org
16 March BRACKNELL South Hill Park Wilde Theatre 7.30pm / £13 01344 484123 southhillpark.org.uk
18 March SOUTHAMPTON Turner Sims 8pm / £16/ £15/ £14.50 023 8059 5151 turnersims.co.uk
19 March BEXHILL De La Warr Pavilion 8pm / £10 01424 229 111 dlwp.com
20 March COVENTRY Warwick Arts Centre 8pm / £12.50/ £10 024 7652 4524 warwickartscentre.co.uk
21 March NORTHAMPTON Royal & Derngate 7.45pm/ £15/ £13 01604 624811 royalandderngate.co.uk
26th March CONSTANTINE Tolmen Centre Constantine 7.30pm £9/£8 01326 341 353 constantinecornwall.com
27th March PENZANCE Acorn Arts Centre 8.30pm / £12/ £10 01736 365 520 acornartscentre.co.uk

What others had to say about Isla:

"Isla consists of a collection of melodic, interesting, atmospheric and highly accessible contemporary jazz pieces, which should appeal to a broad spectrum of listeners. 4/5" - Artrocker

"serve up a fresh vision of jazz, drawing sounds from across the globe" - Clashmusic

"their love of the minimalists makes for the same cyclical grooves and a less-is-more attitude as Knee-Deep..., but in Portico's Balkan-infused melancholy, thrumming textures and skronking outbursts, it's a deeper, scarier world this time." - BBC Music

"music for the discerning indie intelligentsia, perfect for a long night where the only ambition you've got left is to sink so far into the floor cushions that you'll never get up again. 4/5" - Music OMH

"Isla feeds on Steve Reich mathematics, Radiohead dread, African desert grooves and ECM northern melancholy to travel into a new, chiming cavernous sound-world that is both exotic and hypnotic" **** stars MOJO

"A melodic accessibility and cinematic scope as liable to woo fans of Radiohead as patrons of Ronnie Scott's" **** stars Q

"There's nothing quite like their groove based and atmospheric jazz... not so much world music as alien music" - Jazz Journal

For music and the latest tour dates and information, go to:

Portico Quartet Official Website
Portico Quartet MySpace