FM
History
Portico Quartet is a British instrumental band based in London. Formed in 2005, they are known for their use of the Hang, a modern percussion instrument. Their debut album, Knee-Deep in the North Sea, was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Prize and was Time Out’s Jazz, Folk and World album of the year 2007. Of the original members, Nick Mulvey left in August 2014 for a solo career and the other three released an album in 2015 as Portico. The band subsequently signed with Gondwana Records in 2017 and released their fourth studio album as Portico Quartet - Art in the Age of Automation - which reached No.1 in the UK jazz chart. Their fifth studio album - Memory Streams - was released in 2019.
Formed from two sets of schoolfriends, they share a house in East London, make recordings, and play festivals and clubs. They are primarily acoustic: percussion, bass, and wind instruments, together with the hang, a tuned percussion instrument bought on impulse at a music festival.
