Artist:     Portnoy

Album:     No Complaints

Label:     Self-released

Release Date:     10.31.19

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Shrugging off even the mere suggestion of a spiteful sibling rivalry, Israel and Mendy Portnoy managed to co-write their new album, No Complaints, without bloodshed. Falling easily into the kind of finely-spun, brotherly harmonies that dreamily echo the Everly Brothers, they weave downy blankets of warm, accessible folk-pop and soft rock with a lust for life that’s as wholesome as a glass of fresh milk.

There’s something inspiring about Portnoy’s generosity of spirit, pushing all their chips to the middle of the table in the uplifting opener “Celebrate,” with its low-key, candlelit incandescence and assembled choir of youthfully engaged backup vocalists ready to climb mountains. A real awakening, full of empathy and hope, No Complaints dovetails the British-Israeli duo’s earnest songwriting and worldly perspective with lush acoustic and electric instrumentation in contemporary roots music that doesn’t ruffle any feathers.

If Mumford & Sons can catch commercial lightning in a bottle, so could Portnoy, formerly known as The Brothers Portnoy. Served up two ways, the anthemic earworm “Spotified” is an upbeat charmer, with a “Nashville” version that spins in a bluegrass reverie and another that dances a jig with ukuleles—all strummed vigorously and innocently—asking, “How do we get radio airplay?” The answer, my friend, is blowing in a digital wind from a streaming platform. Their endearing sincerity can only help, as a jaunty “You Never Know,” reveling in its sonic richness and lightly bouncing on klezmer-like rhythms leavened with a stylish R&B sensibility, saunters in confidently and without pretense. They write a heartfelt love letter to their Jewish homeland on “Home to Zion” that is infectious and powerful, while tenderly plucked ballads “Seeing is Believing” and “Teenage Mama” swell with emotion and compassion, sending flowing, pristine melodies over sandbags of cold-hearted cynicism.

They’ve got something to say, and it’s usually something positive. For reference, revisit Eric Clapton’s contemplative 1996 hit “Change the World” to get a sense of the organic, serene soulfulness of “Simple City,” as carefully plucked guitars effortlessly groove and gentle rains of electric keyboards briefly fall at night at just the right time. As gorgeously arranged as their feathery vocals, the resonant strings in “Tick of Time” cut deeply, but the wounds of No Complaints heal up fast.

—Peter Lindblad