2023 was supposed to be Portland’s year. The Belgian indie band led by Jente Pironet was set to release its second album ‘Departures’, took part in a popular prime time TV show and was set to conquer Rock Werchter that summer. And they did—but just days after Pironet delivered the performance of a lifetime there, the dream briefly came crashing down: the doctor marked a big black C on his forehead. Brain cancer. Suddenly, summer turned ice cold.
But the singer and his band pushed through, and the result speaks for itself: Portland has never sounded more energetic, mature, and richly layered than on the new record ‘Champain’. It’s an unflinchingly honest travelogue of a wandering soul, moving from the stage to the hospital bed to the writing desk and back again.
“I heard you calling me / and you still know my name,” Pironet sings on ‘Time Is Now’, the album’s opener. The lyrics exude a newly regained self-confidence from a man ready to seize life with both hands: “Something’s in the air / I’d like to face it all alone.” It’s Portland’s key message today: there’s no time to waste—and he should know.
On ‘Lay Me Down’, Pironet shows the other side of the coin. Catch me when I fall, he asks his loved ones and lay me to rest when I once again push myself too far.
Musically, ‘Time Is Now’ and ‘Lay Me Down’ form a diptych that reveals where Portland stands today: energetic indie rock built for festivals and big stages, with a frontman who feels increasingly at home there. Yet the melancholic, introverted pop of predecessor ‘Departures’ hasn’t disappeared entirely. The acoustic title track ‘Champain’ nods to the best of Bright Eyes, while ‘Aurora’ is a hushed piano piece in true Portland tradition. It reflects how the promise of safety still unsettles Pironet, even after years of turmoil. He wants to explore, to experiment, to meet extraordinary people—nesting instincts are foreign to him. Or as he sings himself: “Her home ain’t where I’ll be.”
On ‘Forever’, Pironet drew inspiration from his great hero Bob Dylan, spilling everything out in one long stream of words—“a story to tell and a weight on my chest.”
‘Champain’ settles down in darkness with ‘Until I Find Some Bigger Fears’. It’s one of the hardest songs Pironet has ever written, composed in the middle of a chemotherapy treatment, when even a whispered note of hope felt out of reach. “And all the time, I wish I could rewind,” he murmurs, in the footsteps of Nick Cave, Billy Joel, and so many others who have borne their souls over the keys of a piano.
It’s an echo of the past, and that goes for the entire album. It’s a home for old sorrow and the starting point for new stories. After the years he’s endured, it was inevitable that ‘Champain’ would sometimes sting and fester—but far more often, the music sparkles and effervesces. 2025 and 2026 will be Portland’s years.
‘Champain’ is out now via [PIAS] Recordings.
Live dates:
09/12 – AB, Brussels (BE)
17/12 – Privatclub, Berlin (GER)
20/12 – Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam (NL)
