Port Noir Hit Alternative-Rock Heights With New Single, 'Old Fashioned'

Port Noir are back & they're better than ever before.

After some time off to cook up a new album, Port Noir returned this week with new music and a new label homestead - InsideOutMusic. As for that new music, latest track ‘Old Fashioned’ is something both a little bit familiar and a little bit different for the Swedish group. "This is the essence of what we've been cooking up the past few years and we hope it will stir up an interest for what we still have in store for you!” commented the band upon this track's release, and it definitely digs the hooks right in. Both giving a fix of new material but also ushering in a new era for the three-piece.

‘Old Fashioned’ really is the kind of great songwriting that made me first fall head over heels for this band last year. With sonic hints of Muse and Royal Blood riding over the driving guitar riffs, tones and structure, with even homages to the Beastie Boys' 'Sabotage' (see the lyric "you're crystal ball ain't so crystal clear" and the section at 2:48), Port Noir are armed with a great track. As long-time fans will note, the song retains smaller doses of their esteemed past. This ranges from the trio's awesome sense of groove; their punchy and gritty bass lines; guitarist Andreas Hollstrand's great riff-flow and energetic playing; that thickened hard-rock attitude that stirs beneath everything; to even returning those pulsating yet soothing 80s synth basses during the choruses, much like that was heard on their 2017 banger, 'Neon'.

Speaking of this song's massive chorus, Port Noir - at any point in their life-span - has had a great ear for big, uplifting and ear-worming refrains. But by Christ, this might just be their best one yet! Bassist/singer Love Andersson's vocals are as delicious in timbre, as well-controlled in delivery, and as heart-melting in melody as ever too; a huge factor in why band's music hits so hard.

It's golden, it's sexy, it's groovy, it's riffy, and it's smooth as fuckin' butter - it's 'Old Fashioned'. This is Port Noir just doing themselves and quite publicly expressing their love for the rock music that they grew up on. These guys care not for the new breed.

[caption id="attachment_1104444" align="aligncenter" width="760"] Port Noir, 2018. Photo credit: Evin Stenmark.[/caption]