Wise Music Group sign Portico Quartet

28 March 2024 - Press release

 

Wise Music Group announces the signing of Portico Quartet to the global independent publishing group, as they join the roster through Campbell Connelly & Co in an exclusive songwriter agreement. The deal includes their back catalogue and future work. 

Led by drummer/composer and producer Duncan Bellamy and saxophonist/composer and producer Jack Wyllie, Portico Quartet have defied categorisation over the course of seven studio albums. From their 2007 Mercury Music Prize nominated breakthrough ‘Knee-Deep in the North Sea’ through to the longform minimalist inspired ‘Terrain’ and the electronica heavy Monument, both released in 2021. In 2022 they recorded an extended version of Terrain live in Abbey Road Studio One with an expanded line-up featuring a string quartet taking the band firmly into more classical and modern ambient spaces. 

Originally formed in 2005 by two groups of childhood friends from Southampton and Cambridge, they met while studying at university in London and initially honed their style by busking regularly outside the National Theatre on London’s Southbank. Their debut album, Knee-Deep in the North Sea, was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Prize and was Time Out’s Jazz, Folk and World music album of the year 2007 and their music continues to grow and evolve with each release, drawing on jazz, ambient and classical influences in equal measure to create their own unique form of widescreen minimalism that has influenced artists such as Hania Rani and Bononbo.

In addition to their work with Portico Quartet they also pursue other collaborations such as Bellamy’s collaborations with Hania Rani on her recent album Ghosts and his project with poet Belinda Zhawi and Wyllie in his collaborative bands Forgiveness and Szun Waves as well as his solo work under the name Paradise Cinema.

This Spring Portico Quartet will tour European venues, starting with a gig at the multi-arts space EartH (Evolutionary Arts Hackney) in Stoke Newington, London on Friday March 29. 

LIVE DATES
29/03/2024 – EartH, London
30/03/2024 – Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Germany
06/04/2024 – Cully Jazz 2024, Bourg-en-lavaux, Switzerland
30/04/2024 – Blind, Beyoğlu, Turkey
10/05/2024 – XJazz! Festival, Berlin, Germany
02/06/2024 – OPIA, Utrecht, Netherlands

Jack Wyllie and Duncan Bellamy comment: ““We couldn’t be more thrilled to become a part of the Wise Music family, a publisher who represents some of our favourite music and artists. We’re looking forward to working closely with them on new ambitious works, as well as entrusting them to represent our back catalogue. Both of us each have exciting projects on the horizon, more details of which will be shared in due course. We are also looking forward to writing new Portico Quartet music and to heading out to play some concerts this spring, one of the highlights for us being playing our album Terrain with our ensemble at the spectacular Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg as well as at EartH in London.”

Marcus Wise, Wise Music Group’s CEO says:“I’m delighted we have signed Portico Quartet. Jack and Duncan are a very welcome addition to the Wise Music family, and we all look forward to working with them on future projects and to working with their excellent back catalogue.”