Taking ages and ages to make a record is usually a sure sign that something is seriously awry with a band. Think of how the five year gap between albums was the undoing of the Stone Roses, how endless procrastination derailed the career of Kevin Shields and don’t let’s get started on Guns N’ Roses.

For my money Portishead are the only group whose lengthy gaps between product aren’t a sign of creative cowardice, but a case of merely wanting to make sure that everything is just right. Or in other words the records Geoff Barrow and co put out are simply worth the wait.

They released another one a few weeks ago. A single this time, though it’s not completely new – Chase The Tear was released in download form back in 2009 as a fundraiser for Amnesty. It’s only now that it’s got a proper (ie physical) release.

And it’s brilliant. Other reviews will have mentioned the way it resembles I Feel Love, but filled with foreboding rather than ecstasy. For me, the best bits for me are when Adrian Utley’s guitar starts nibbling at the edge of a gently burbling Moog and then after five and half minutes, just as everything is building nicely to a head, it suddenly it stops dead in the road, leaving you with gasping for more.

But soon, please.