Beth Gibbons
Lives Outgrown
DOMINO
ABOVE THE CURRENT
Best known as the somewhat ghostly, disembodied voice of trip-hop progenitors Portishead, Beth Gibbons has also released two albums bearing her own name over the years. Lives Outgrown, however, is technically her first solo album—2002’s Out of Season was co-credited to Rustin Man (a.k.a. Talk Talk’s Paul Webb), while 2019’s recording of Henryk Górecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs was made five years prior in collaboration with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, and was conducted by Krzysztof Penderecki.
While both offered distinct glimpses of Gibbons’ versatility and malleability as an artist outside of her band, Lives Outgrown really hones in on it. That said, in its instrumentation, and even Gibbons’ voice, the new album leans further into the pastoral, folk-inspired sounds of Out of Control than anything Portishead ever made. And despite some orchestral moments—notably the melodramatic strings that emphasize the emotional gravitas of “Lost Changes”—it’s also far removed from Górecki’s masterful composition.
Instead, these 10 songs straddle a divide between multiple worlds: the bucolic and the experimental, between the past and the present, between youth and older age. The latter is most noticeable in Gibbons’ vocals—they’re worn, tired, jaded, and all in the best possible way. On the forlornly mystical “Oceans” and the melancholy weariness of “Lost Changes,” the singer sounds more like a Gone Again–era Patti Smith, while penultimate track “Beyond the Sun” takes inspiration from ’60s folk, albeit with a darker and almost ritualistic tone.
Elsewhere, mid-album track “Reaching Out” is a boisterous séance of organic instruments (with some James Bond dramatics thrown in for good measure), the sublime “Floating on a Moment” is (despite being devoid of electronics) the most Portishead-esque moment on here in terms of atmosphere, and gently lilting closer “Whispering Love” is a more direct rumination on the running down on life that generally permeates all of these songs. Altogether, Lives Outgrown is a poignant, stirring mediation that was definitely worth the wait, and proves Gibbons’ insistence on quality over quantity absolutely correct.
