"The Portraits defy easy definition. The duo...is one of the most unique and haunting acts to come across this desk." WILDY'S WORLD BLOG, Feb 24th 2009 

2009 is a big year for The Portraits.

Their sound has been dubbed “The Warm Acoustic Pop Breeze”, and one excitable French producer referred to them as “The New Beautiful South”.

But there is an artistic edge to the rich Anglo-Irish folk-pop created by Galway’s Lorraine Reilly (guitar, voices) and Bristolian Jeremy Millington (piano, voices, production) which sets them aside from their contemporaries. Imagery is central to their creativity: the poetic lyrics painting reassuring pictures of the passing of time, bereavement, family and regret; the marrying of melancholic words to uplifting, warm vocal harmonies and ghostly piano lines; the eye-catching arty visuals created by Lorraine and used by the duo to animate their live performances; you can’t help feeling all of this would be at home in your local arts centre as much as the nearest gig venue.

The song writing partnership between Lorraine and Jeremy grew over a decade ago when the two were young teachers on the Isle of Wight, UK, Lorraine an art tutor and Jeremy a classroom music teacher. Turning their backs on their day-jobs, the two set out to perfect their craft, working with a series of other musicians and eking out a following on the Bristol and London live gig circuits around the turn of the millennium.

It wasn’t until a move to Western Europe in the early 2000s that the concept of The Portraits began to fine-tune itself. The release to critical acclaim of the highly personal 2006 album "Kin", containing Anglicised shades of the French chanson style, was followed by a period of work in South Africa with local musicians, locally renowned studio wizard Simon "Fuzzy" Ratcliffe, and contributions from Portishead side-kick Pete Judge on brass, all of which led to the completion of the duo’s colourful second album “Timescape", released in late 2008, which blends the choiry feel of the duo’s trademark vocal arrangements with an electronic worldiness, and a new instrumental flavour emanating from the inclusion of cellos, giant African percussion troups, ethnic flutes...and just the odd smattering of Bristolian trumpeting. The result, on record at least, is a wall of vocals à la Brian Wilson and an honest song writing style in the Ben Folds mould. Weaving cellos, flutes, trumpets, electronics and world instruments into an already rich sonic tapestry, the new album provides for a curiously intoxicating listen.

The duo are launching a series of key concerts in Spring 2009 to promote Timescape, and plan also to release a previously unreleased limited edition single with the goal of raising funds for an amazing monastery school in Burma’s second city, Mandalay. All of this while completing work on their third album, due out at the end of the year. It appears that sleep will not be on the agenda for this most promising of creative partnerships in the coming months!

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