Beth Gibbons releases her debut solo album, Lives Outgrown, on Friday, the 17th of May, 2024. Featuring ten beautiful new tracks recorded over a period of 10 years, the album was produced by James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Depeche Mode, The Last Dinner Party) & Beth Gibbons with additional production by Lee Harris (Talk Talk).
Lives Outgrown is, by some measure, Beth’s most personal work to date, the result of a period of sustained reflection and change — “lots of goodbyes,” in Beth’s words. Farewells to family, to friends, even to her former self. These are songs from the mid-course of life, when looking ahead no longer yields what it used to, and looking back has a sudden, sharper focus.
“I realised what life was like with no hope,” says Beth. “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.”
Songs also touch on motherhood, anxiety and the menopause (which Beth describes variously as “a massive audit” and “a massive comedown” which “cuts you at the knees”) as well as, inevitably, mortality.
“People started dying,” says Beth. “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.”
But emerging from this decade of change and realignment has left Beth with what feels like a renewed purpose. “Now I’ve come out of the other end, I just think, you’ve got to be brave,” she says.
The video for first single “Floating On A Moment” was directed by acclaimed multi-media artist and director Tony Oursler (the man responsible for David Bowie’s “Where Are We Now?” video).
“When I first heard “Floating On A Moment” it literally transported me from place to place, filling me with kaleidoscopic emotions and visions. 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. “ – Tony Oursler
Watch the video for ‘Floating On A Moment’ – BELOW:
In addition to Beth’s work with Portishead, her Out Of Season album with Rustin Man (2002) and the recording of her performance of Górecki’s Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs (2014), she has most recently been heard collaborating with Kendrick Lamar on 2022’s “Mother I Sober” from his Mr Morale & the Big Steppers album.
The tracklisting for Lives Outgrown is as follows:
Tell Me Who You Are Today
Floating On A Moment
Burden Of Life
Lost Changes
Rewind
Reaching Out
Oceans
For Sale
Beyond The Sun
Whispering Love
Beth Gibbons will be performing the following concerts in the UK and Europe in May and June. Tickets are on general sale on Friday, the 16th of February, at 10 am GMT. UK pre-orders of Lives Outgrown via the official Beth Gibbons store will be eligible for ticket pre-sale, commencing Wednesday, the 14th of February, at 10 am GMT.
Monday 27th May – La Salle Pleyel, Paris
Tuesday 28th May – Theater 11, Zürich
Thursday 30th – Primavera Sound Festival, Barcelona
Friday 31st – La Bourse Du Travail, Lyon
Sunday 2nd June – Uber Eats Music Hall, Berlin
Monday 3rd June – Falkonersalen, Copenhagen
Wednesday 5th June – TivoliVredenburg (Main Hall), Utrecht
Thursday 6th June – Cirque Royal, Brussels
Sunday 9th June – The Barbican Centre, London
Monday 10th June – Albert Hall, Manchester
Tuesday 11th June – Usher Hall, Edinburgh
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