Clark Remixes Portico's "101" Featuring alt-J's Joe Newman

Living in New York City, you sometimes forget that your neighbors are human people with their own lives and dreams, rather than annoying things to lower your eyes from and mumble "heyhowsitgoing" as you shuffle past each other in the hallways. But other places in the world are shockingly much friendlier. Sometimes, your neighbors can even become your closest musical collaborators. Such is the case of Portico's Jack Wyllie and alt-J's Joe Newman, who grew up on the same street in Southampton on the south coast of England and have been friends ever since.

Portico are Jack Wyllie, Duncan Bellamy, and Milo Fitzpatrick—three quarters of the Mercury-nominated band Portico Quartet. When their debut album (under the new name) came out last month on Ninja Tune, they enlisted Newman's vocals on "101," a tragically grandiose song described as the "perfect introduction to their aesthetic." (Other collaborators on that album, called Living Fields, include Jamie Woon and Jono McCleery.)

When we spoke with Jack Wyllie, he was in the studio getting together Portico's analog gear, which includes a Roland Juno-60 and Prophet '08 keyboard, for their live set. "[I'm] looking out our window over walthamstow allotments in East London. Quite good birdwatching, I've seen a heron already today and you often see flocks of bright green parakeets fly past," he commented, rather adorably.

Clark was enlisted for the remix since they share the same record label, and tells THUMP that this was his attempt at making a "psychedelic Dungen sortat track… [although] obviously this sounds nothing like them."

"I wanted to make a slow disco thing that made me think of taking acid in sunshine. In the middle of a meadow, doing cartwheels, joyous," he adds, "I loved working on the vocal part, delicious vox! I hear it as "she is so high on E."

Wylie, on the other hand, describes Clark's remix as a "quietly brooding electro-tinged track about fear."

"I love the whole track," he says, "but the last few bars that are really unexpected and just jump out into this different groove are wicked."

Living Fields is out now on Ninja Tune - order it here

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