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	ARTICLES ABOUT BETH'S ALBUM "OUT OF SEASON" articles about "out of season" Hailed by some as work of genius and by others as a pretentious statement, Beth Gibbons’s first album is definitely causing a bit of a stir. Better known for being the voice of Portishead, Beth Gibbons has cast an unforgettable mark on British music. With a truly unique voice, able to carry a multitude of emotions by adapting to the atmosphere of a song, Beth had long since joined Marianne Faithful and Liz Fraser in the ranks of the greatest British female voices. Formed in Bristol in the mid nineties, Portishead brought a new dimension to the trip hop scene with cinematic melodies, emotional definition and hip hop beat structures with their first album, Dummy, released in 1994. Instantly recognised as a classic recording, Dummy went on to become one of the biggest sellers that year, not only in the UK and Europe, but also across the Atlantic, where the band enjoyed great success on the alternative scene, despite their refusal to attend any interview. Both Barlow and Gibbons are famously media shy. The band’s second, eponymous, album followed three years later, with a live album recorded at New York’s Roseland Ballroom with a thirty-five piece orchestra released in 1998. Since then, the band members have been taking an extended break, with Barlow working on new songs for Portishead, and Gibbons working on this project. Written and recorded with former Talk Talk Paul Webb, Out Of Season is everything but a variation on Portishead. Webb and Gibbons met long before the singer joined the band, while Webb was auditioning for a singer for his band, O’rang. The idea of collaboration between the two friends came up at the end of the last Portishead tour. With very little material to work on to start with other than the melody for the beautiful Mysteries and lyrics for Rustin Man, the pair developed an approach which lead them to work with stripped down soundscapes, emphasising entirely on Gibbons’ voice and interpretation. Unanimously recognised as one of the finest piece of song writing in British music history, Mysteries, which opens the album, is a delicate pop song built around a simple guitar line on which Gibbons’ voice blows a gentle breeze. Defining the timeless character of this album, the song is a haunting reflection on personal beliefs and destiny as Gibbons almost whispers ‘And when the timebell blows my heart / And I have scored a better day / Well nobody made this war of mine’. Carrying the same melancholic views on existence and depicting distorted love stories and lives, the rest of the album retain the same intrinsic characteristics all the way through. Very often using elements of nature and passing time as metaphors to emphasise on the down-to-earth atmosphere of the music, the duo elaborate rarely on the simple, acoustic, arrangements, only once reaching for dramatic effect, on the stunning Funny Time Of Year. Starting with just an acoustic guitar to support Beth’s fragile voice, the track slowly builds up to a magnificent coda. Perhaps the closest to the ambience of Portishead, and at the same time the furthest away, Funny Time Of Year presents this album with its most poignant moment. Reminiscent of the poetry of a Nike Drake, Out Of Season is totally unique, and most definitely out of time. A very strong piece of work, this album will be remembered as a milestone in Gibbons' career. 5/5
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ARTICLES ABOUT BETH'S ALBUM "OUT OF SEASON"

articles about "out of season"

Hailed by some as work of genius and by others as a pretentious statement, Beth Gibbons’s first album is definitely causing a bit of a stir. Better known for being the voice of Portishead, Beth Gibbons has cast an unforgettable mark on British music. With a truly unique voice, able to carry a multitude of emotions by adapting to the atmosphere of a song, Beth had long since joined Marianne Faithful and Liz Fraser in the ranks of the greatest British female voices.
Formed in Bristol in the mid nineties, Portishead brought a new dimension to the trip hop scene with cinematic melodies, emotional definition and hip hop beat structures with their first album, Dummy, released in 1994. Instantly recognised as a classic recording, Dummy went on to become one of the biggest sellers that year, not only in the UK and Europe, but also across the Atlantic, where the band enjoyed great success on the alternative scene, despite their refusal to attend any interview. Both Barlow and Gibbons are famously media shy. The band’s second, eponymous, album followed three years later, with a live album recorded at New York’s Roseland Ballroom with a thirty-five piece orchestra released in 1998. Since then, the band members have been taking an extended break, with Barlow working on new songs for Portishead, and Gibbons working on this project.
Written and recorded with former Talk Talk Paul Webb, Out Of Season is everything but a variation on Portishead. Webb and Gibbons met long before the singer joined the band, while Webb was auditioning for a singer for his band, O’rang. The idea of collaboration between the two friends came up at the end of the last Portishead tour. With very little material to work on to start with other than the melody for the beautiful Mysteries and lyrics for Rustin Man, the pair developed an approach which lead them to work with stripped down soundscapes, emphasising entirely on Gibbons’ voice and interpretation.
Unanimously recognised as one of the finest piece of song writing in British music history, Mysteries, which opens the album, is a delicate pop song built around a simple guitar line on which Gibbons’ voice blows a gentle breeze. Defining the timeless character of this album, the song is a haunting reflection on personal beliefs and destiny as Gibbons almost whispers ‘And when the timebell blows my heart / And I have scored a better day / Well nobody made this war of mine’. Carrying the same melancholic views on existence and depicting distorted love stories and lives, the rest of the album retain the same intrinsic characteristics all the way through. Very often using elements of nature and passing time as metaphors to emphasise on the down-to-earth atmosphere of the music, the duo elaborate rarely on the simple, acoustic, arrangements, only once reaching for dramatic effect, on the stunning Funny Time Of Year. Starting with just an acoustic guitar to support Beth’s fragile voice, the track slowly builds up to a magnificent coda. Perhaps the closest to the ambience of Portishead, and at the same time the furthest away, Funny Time Of Year presents this album with its most poignant moment.
Reminiscent of the poetry of a Nike Drake, Out Of Season is totally unique, and most definitely out of time. A very strong piece of work, this album will be remembered as a milestone in Gibbons' career.

5/5

interviews