Portico

In 2014 Duncan Bellamy, Milo Fitzpatrick, and Jack Wyllie formed Portico by disbanding their earlier ensemble, the Mercury Prize-nominated Portico Quartet, fusing hallucinatory sonics, field recordings, and indie-pop songwriting. Once Keir Vine—who had succeeded founding member Nick Mulvey on the distinctive Hang drum—left the London-based project, the lineup settled into a trio. After inking with Ninja Tune that same year, the group issued its first full-length, Living Fields, in 2015; the set steered the band toward stronger rock and ambient leanings than jazz and included appearances by Jono McCleery, Jamie Woon, and alt-J’s Joe Newman.