Formed out of Manchester’s Royal Northern College of Music, Porij have been occupying the celestial sonic lands between electronic, dance, and indie music since 2019. Their debut album, aptly named Teething, marks their next stage of growth as a band, displaying a sophistication of sound, lyricism, and production across its eleven songs.
Teething’s opening track, ‘Marmite’, packs an immediate punch with its tinny, steel drum-esque top line melody and staccato lyrics. These spiky components are tastefully offset with a melting bassline and smooth chord progression, a balancing act successfully maintained throughout the rest of the album.
The tempo is upped in ‘Unpredictable’, gradually introducing drum and bass beats that return in tracks like ‘Stranger’ and ‘Sweet Risk’.
While the majority of this record uses very repetitive drum loops, it’s Porij’s ability to introduce a surprising component, whether it be a jazzy chord or a gut-wrenching melody, that breaks any potential monotony.
The harmonic content of ‘Stranger’ is a great example of this. The vulnerability of its lyrics – ‘There’s a stranger staring back on me’ – combined with motifs played on acoustic piano add an emotional backbone to an otherwise artificial-sounding palette. More saccharine moments come in ‘Sweet Risk’ and in ‘You Should Know Me’, a joyous dance anthem that could be the unlikely lovechild of Charli XCX and Wet Leg. ‘Gutter Punch’ brings us back to those more abrasive textures heard in ‘Marmite’, diffusing into picked guitar lines before the final track, ‘Slow Down’, leaves us in a romantic yet melancholic state.
Teething is an album straddling the personal and communal. Full of tension and release, angst and catharsis, this is dance music delivered with a delicate hand, totally appropriate to listen to both in a club setting or directly into headphones.
Teething is released on PIAS on 26th April
Main Photo Credit: Jesse Glazzar
