Portable is: Chance +voice/guitar Gus Ciceri +guitar Sebastian Ciceri +bass Brian Levy +drums ----------------------------------- Taken from "ONLY IF YOU LOOK UP" PRESS BIO "The audience doesn't always know when it's being lied to, but it knows when it's not being told the truth." —Portable singer/guitarist, Chance. First off, here are the particulars: Only If You Look Up, Portable’s follow-up to 1999's straight rock debut, Secret Life, was recorded in Burbank, CA, at Supertramp's old haunt, Media Vortex. This time out, the band enlisted the production skills of Brad Wood (Smashing Pumpkins, Liz Phair), who took the helm alongside Chance. The album was mixed by Tim Palmer (U2, Pearl Jam) and mastered by Stephen Marcussen. Now that that's out of the way, here's the result: A mingling of songs playing out like a vision, fleshing into a journey, pointing to a destination. Here's how they did it: No compromises. "This record goes a lot wider than some of our earlier pop-punk stuff," says Chance, a piano player at heart. "We wanted to branch out more. I think the bands that we are truly inspired by really know how to explore the instruments they have in their hands. And that's kind of where we set out. The risks are huge, but the rewards are amazing." Indeed they are. Only If You Look Up is a walk through different rooms and over new and winding paths. "It's the most personal stuff I've ever written," says Chance. "And it's the truth as opposed to some imagined scenario. In the past, every song had a kind of ‘red herring’ in it, lyrically. I didn't want you to totally know me. But this time, it was obvious that I couldn't fake it." And he didn't even try. This isn't a collection of songs. It's a journey. "I spent a lot of years bitching and moaning about the state of things rather than doing something about it," he continues. "Every song here has a kernel of hope that it's clinging to. And it's a lot harder to write about that hope." Adds guitarist Gus Ciceri, "This record is more of a story. It starts you off on a high note, dips you down into the relationships, and you come out the other end with all the shit wiped off you. It's positive." And it sounds damn good. On Only If You Look Up, Portable wields their instruments as opportunities. It's still a rock record, but it weaves a wider path: into the aggression of Rage Against the Machine, the spirit of U2, and the audio arc of Radiohead. But if you wanna know what it really sounds like, the answer is quite simple: It sounds like Portable. There are sharp metal edges ("A Man Destroys"), stand-out/stomp-out pop-punk ("Better Get The Daisies Out"), rhythmic staccato groove ("Roll Over And Play Dead"), drizzling piano haunts ("Given"), and slo-core Mazzy Star slides ("Come In From The Cold"). Gus Ciceri's guitar work wavers between Greg Dulli-dischord and shimmering atmospheric swells, to eloquent Joy Division runs like spider webs ("Suffocate") and strummy pop revelry (the hidden track, "Freaks"). The album's denouement, the intoxicating "Last Song," puts everything together—safeguarded and secure—like key in lock. Only If You Look Up isn't the end of Portable's voyage, but one of a thousand beginnings. "You either lead or you follow," says Chance, "And if we follow, we cut ourselves short." Amen.