Portishead’s Beth Gibbons has announced details of her first solo album ‘Lives Outgrown’. Listen to the lead single ‘Floating On A Moment’ below.
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Announced today (February 7), the new project will mark her first solo album to be shared from the iconic trip-hop frontwoman, and is set to contain 10 new tracks recorded over a period of 10 years.
Containing songs written across the past decade, the LP is produced by James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Depeche Mode, The Last Dinner Party) & Beth Gibbons. Additional production comes from Lee Harris (Talk Talk).
According to a press release, ‘Lives Outgrown’ is set to be Gibbons’ most personal work to date, and sees her reflect on the changes she has been through in her personal life, and create a more optimistic outlook.
“I realised what life was like with no hope, and that was a sadness I’d never felt. Before, I had the ability to change my future, but when you’re up against your body, you can’t make it do something it doesn’t want to do,” she said of the inspiration behind the album.
“When you’re young, you never know the endings, you don’t know how it’s going to pan out. You think: we’re going to get beyond this. It’s going to get better. Some endings are hard to digest,” she added, going on to say she has now “come out of the other end” and wants to inspire others to “be brave” with the album.
As well as announcing details of the new album, which is set for release on May 17, Gibbons has also unveiled the lead single from the project – ‘Floating On A Moment’.
A stripped-back, introspective ballad, the single sees Gibbons question the meaning behind life, and come to acceptance with never knowing what comes next. “I’m floating on a moment/ Don’t know how long/ No one knows/ No one can stay,” she sings in the chorus. “All going to nowhere/ All going/ Make no mistake”.
It also comes with an accompanying video directed by multimedia artist Tony Oursler – the director behind David Bowie’s ‘Where Are We Now?’ – which sees the singer merging into visuals from the natural world.
“When I first heard ‘Floating On A Moment’ it literally transported me from place to place, filling me with kaleidoscopic emotions and visions,” he said of the single.
“If possible, I wanted to capture that psychic liquid in this video. Beth’s work is so powerful it can lead us through life’s forests and fires, revealing glimpses of possible futures. With a voice and music like that, I knew we had to make images which are open, somehow speculative.” Check it out below, as well as the full tracklisting for the album.
The tracklisting for ‘Lives Outgrown’ is:
1. ‘Tell Me Who You Are Today
2. ‘Floating On A Moment
3. ‘Burden Of Life’
4. ‘Lost Changes’
5. ‘Rewind’
6. ‘Reaching Out’
7. ‘Oceans’
8. ‘For Sale’
9. ‘Beyond The Sun’
10. ‘Whispering Love’
As well as her work with Portishead, Gibbons has gone on to collaborate with Rustin Man on the 2002 album ‘Out Of Season’, Górecki on ‘Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs’ (2014) and Kendrick Lamar on his ‘Mr Morale & the Big Steppers’ album (2022).
To celebrate the release of ‘Lives Outgrown’ – which you can pre-order here – Gibbons has also shared details of an upcoming tour of the UK and Europe.
Set to kick off later this year, the live shows will commence on May 27 with a slot in Paris and see the singer make stops in cities including Barcelona, Lyon, Berlin, Brussels and more. Three UK shows are also planned for June, taking place in London, Manchester and Edinburgh on June 9, 10 and 11.
Tickets will go on sale next Friday (February 16) and can be found here. Check out the full list of upcoming shows below.
Beth Gibbons’ 2024 tour dates are:
MAY
27 – La Salle Pleyel, Paris
28 – Theater 11, Zürich
30 – Primavera Sound Festival, Barcelona
31 – La Bourse Du Travail, Lyon
JUNE
2 – Uber Eats Music Hall, Berlin
3 – Falkonersalen, Copenhagen
5 – TivoliVredenburg (Main Hall), Utrecht
6 – Cirque Royal, Brussels
9 – The Barbican Centre, London
10 – Albert Hall, Manchester
11 – Usher Hall, Edinburgh
In other Beth Gibbons news, back in August she teamed up with Afghan girl band the Miraculous Love Kids to perform covers of Joy Division‘s ‘Atmosphere’ and David Bowie‘s ‘Heroes’.
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