The first of at least two releases from Cloudkicker this year, Portmanteau shows a progression in both production and songwriting from multi-instrumentalist Ben Sharp in this short but excellent EP. The hallmarks are all still there: big riffs, massive layers and lots of different time signatures and poly rhythms but the advances in the sound quality, expecially the drum sound do not go unnoticed.

Fourteen Nights starts things off with a post rock vibe before going full pelt with staccato riffs and the drums going mad before settling into a verse(?) riff that gradually builds itself up to a huge layered chorus. Despite initially being quite calm Modulator/Demodulator becomes one of the more frantic tracks and sounds like something that wouldn't be out of place from a band like Textures, and this continues through to Of Smoke and Fog that ends abruptly with a few minutes of quiet ambience to set up the last song God Be With Ye, a sonically huge track that uses themes from Fourteen Nights before going its own way by moving into the more layered atmospherics that are littered about the two previous albums.

All in all Portmanteau is another solid release. While having Of Smoke and Fog have such a long near silence, or even just as an extra track due to how it carries on for the song before it seems a little questionable but all in all it doesn't detract from the EP as a whole. As always, Cloudkicker's excellent back catalogue can be downloaded for free here.