While travelling, I’m trying to catch up on listening to a few of 2025’s sick album releases I didn’t get to at home. And it means I’m immortalising these new sounds in the destinations I’m exploring, forever forging associations between places and musical pieces. Portugal. The Man’s shimmering ‘SHISH’ and Pai, Thailand, now share that connection. So, I naturally had to write about it…

Here you have a creative, avant-garde summoning of genres across ten, riffy, electric-guitar-charged tracks. As per, the group’s penchant for harmonised vocals really floats to the surface. Meanwhile, although some of the songs are heavier than others, it overwhelmingly seems their most boundary-pushing album to date — at least to me. That’s against their 2017 record that I couldn’t get enough of (AKA when ‘Easy Tiger’, ‘Live in the Moment’ and ‘Feel It Still’ really shone in all their catchy glory). 

The layers and textures of ‘Denali’ make the album feel like it starts with a value-for-money opener. It’s upbeat yet still quirky in its haywire instrumental sections — and some of these types of sounds carry through at other times. It’s a tad film-score-ish. In fact, I’d go as far as to say it’s quite reminiscent of Sleigh Bells (anyone remember them?) throughout, yet ‘Pittman Ralliers’ is an expectedly pacy, gritty, punk belter that smacks you around the jowls.

‘Angoon’, which I recall getting excited about when composing a new release roundup a few months ago, is more of an extension of the first track. Those feel-good sensibilities keep coming. More than five-and-a-half minutes of ascending, easygoing shoegaze manifests into something that breaks down into a more reflective, louder, brasher bop: ‘Knik’. You really go through the sonic motions quite early on. And midway through that track alone, it kicks into a scorching, scuzzy rock tune, led by the lingering line, ‘you’ve been lonely long enough to know it hurts’. Whopping. 

‘Shish’ itself, which intros with these squeaky little voices (I haven’t watched any of the music vids or read up on the context/inspiration behind the album — are they penguins or seals?!) is a jaunty indie number, followed by the frantic ‘Mush’. And while ‘Tyonek’ is slow, it builds. Then there’s something ‘70s Americana to the fuzz-coated ‘Kokhanockers’ and ‘Tanana’, before zorbing electronics front the finale, ‘Father Gun’. An explosive closing gambit with a chugging, crunchy solo. 

You really do get a cohesive, well-rounded record from Portugal. The Man here, so go on — pause the Bublé for a bit and give it a whirl.

If you only download one track, let it be: ‘Denali’ (though please don’t stop after track one)