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19 Jan 2005

Portishead are back in the studio, working on their first new material since 1997's "Portishead".

The Influential Bristol-based group, who picked up the 1995 Mercury Music Prize for their debut album "Dummy", have almost completed recording the new album.

Speaking to the BBC founding member Geoff Barrow said the band had been on an extended-hiatus and hadn't considered splitting, despite vocalist Beth Gibbons pursuing a solo career with 2002's "Out Of Season" and the critically acclaimed 2003 release "Tom The Model":

"We're actually into it as we speak," he said. "We took some time off for Christmas, but generally we're doing another record."

"We've just had our heads down really, we've never actually broken up, or parted, or whatever. So for us it just seems, even though we haven't played for years, we still see each other and write - we just haven't released a record for a long time."

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