We all knew that Portishead could sound sensual, moody, ethereal, and spooky but who thought they could sound so menacing? "We Carry On" is a pulsing and nerve-wracking song, and I mean that in a good way. The marching drums and intense guitars are undercut by a wavering, high-pitched noise that is straight out of a Clinic song. Beth Gibbons sings haltingly but with eerie urgency: "the pace of time – I can't survive/ It's grinding down the view/ Breaking out – which way to choose?/ A choice I can't renew." "We Carry On" is a tension filled centerpiece and not like anything Portishead has done before. It made the 11-years of waiting worth it.
Written for Treble Zine's Top 50 Songs of 2008.
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