Shish

Portugal. The Man celebrate their Alaskan roots on their free-spirited, psych-grunge-infused tenth album, 2025s Shish. Formed by lead singer and songwriter John Gourley in Wasilla, Alaska, in the early 2000s, Portugal. The Man has enjoyed a wildly eclectic career, moving from their early indie rock outings to a series of successful albums for Atlantic Records that found them polishing their sound with dance and pop elements; a vibe that peaked with their 2017 hit "Feel It Still" off Woodstock. With Shish, they return to their earlier, arguably weirder sound, a sort of jam band Flaming Lips, albeit one amped up this time with sludgey Moog synths, organs, and the hardcore punk wallop of fuzztone guitars. Where past efforts like 2023s Chris Black Changed My Life found Gourley working with an ample band of collaborators, he primarily recorded Shish on his own with producer/multi-instrumentalist Kane Ritchotte (a former touring drummer for the band), as well as a small, close-knit group of singers and instrumentalists. The result is an album that feels as personal as anything Gourley has done, a kaleidoscopic sonic homage to Alaska in which childhood memories bleed with a stream of consciousness flow into portraits of the Alaskan outback. Theres also a feeling that the daily economic struggles of rural life echo against a larger political landscape. Its a vibe Gourley captures from the start on 90s-style grunge-metal anthem "Denali," in which the native purple flowers, bees, and fireweed blooms of Alaskas meadows buzz with the defiant spirit of individualism. He sings, "Catch a snowflake on my tongue, cant tell whats real life or dreams/Oh no kings, or master over me." More intimate revelations follow, as on "Tyonek," where he draws upon his recollections of growing up with sled dogs, singing, "Up before the dogs/up before the snowcaps warm up in the sun...Jenny generator gonna fix the generator so the kids can watch their cartoons/yeah mom thank you too/Waiting for the lights to come on." With Shish, Gourley has made an album that evokes the Teutonic permafrost wilderness, dreamscapes, and lonely small town punk-kid spirit that gave birth to Portugal. The Man. ~ Matt Collar