Portugal. the Man returns with new album, 'Chris Black Changed My Life'

Portugal. The Man returns with their ninth studio album. The work is dedicated to the band’s longtime friend and frequent on-stage hype man Chris Black who died in 2019. It is the first album since their last effort Woodstock in 2017.

On Chris Black Changed My Life, the band strays away from the wedding dance floor vibes of their massive 2017 hit “Feel It Still”. There is a return to the sounds of their earlier work with reverbed vocals and harmonies layered upon pure indie rock.

If you have seen Portugal live, you know this band spans beyond the traditional four-piece setup. The multi instrumental arrangements span across the tracks of the album. The electric bass grooves thump through multiple songs and sweet horns shine in unexpected places.

The current band is set up of six members led by vocalist and guitarist John Gourley. There are 72 credited additional vocalists and musicians on the album, playing everything from guitar to a Hammond organ to a viola to a trombone. Even Ben Stiller jumps on percussion in the background for three songs. Yes, Zoolander brought out the sticks for this one. 

The result is a lush landscape of music that is easy to listen to and hard to keep your head still. The reflective lyrics require a second read to really feel the messages of loss and grief. It is not a criticism of the writing, but rather an appraisal for the beautiful harmonies and divertive music. 

Harmonies shine brightest on “Time’s a Fantasy”. The layered vocals ascend as the song progresses bringing the listener along to a higher place. The final lines sing “I got a feeling that things are gonna be just fine” before a subtle final note of the word “doubt”. The lyric acts as a reflection of the stages of grief and how some days there is hope everything will be just fine and then doubt comes crashing back in like a crippling migraine. 

The song naturally transitions to one of the strongest points on the album which is the track titled “Doubt”. The song is a beautiful rock ballad with a modern refresh to avoid sounding like something from the Bon Jovi catalog. The electric guitar accents rip through the harmonies to provide an enjoyable contrast. A sound fitting for the constant pulling tension emotions we feel when faced with doubt. The string section outro competes the climax on a simple euphoric note. 

The multi-instrumental and jam band vibes of the band appear again on the outro for the album’s penultimate track “Champ”. The song veers from an organ-and-horns led melody to an aggressive, heavy metal outro. The pounding guitars then transition to eclectic synths that take the listener for a space walk. It feels misguided, but maybe that is intentional. 

The actor who donned purple tights for Globo Gym is not the only interesting collaborator on the album. Psych rock band Unknown Mortal Orchestra collabs on “Summer of Luv”. The Mexican songstress Natalia Lafourcade brings her beautiful vocals to “Thunderdome (W.T.A.). Black Thought”, the rapper from the Roots, also lends an visceral verse on the track.  The inclusion of hip-hop makes sense as Jeff Bhasker produced most of the album. Bhasker is a longtime Kanye West collaborator, producing much of 808’s & Heartbreaks and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. In an odd twist he also produced tracks for Taylor Swift. 

Bhasker has worked with many artists including Bruno Mars and Harry Styles. He co-produced much of Style’s first two albums alongside Tyler Johnson and others. Johnson is one of Styles’ main collaborators and also lends a hand to Chris Black Changed My Life. There is a similar musicality between this album from Portugal and some of Styles’ more rock-leaning work.

The album beautifully balances the line of darker themes of grief with music that lifts your spirit. That balance is exemplified with the final track “Anxiety:Clarity”. Gourley sings “You can’t take this back / because the present has a past / now you’re stuck here forever”. It is a poetic expression of grief as we try to move one when faced with loss but must acknowledge the past will always affect where we stand in the present. There is a moment of hope in the end though as the album ends with a spoken word poem about seeing the beauty in the consuming fire that is grief.