Portishead’s Beth Gibbons Readies Long-In-The-Works Solo Debut

Portishead vocalist Beth Gibbons signed to Domino Records as a solo artist 12 years ago, and the fruits of her labor since then will finally see the light of day this spring. Gibbons’ solo debut, Lives Outgrown, will be released May 17 and is led by the song “Floating on a Moment,” which is out now.

The album was produced by Gibbons with James Ford (Depeche Mode, Arctic Monkeys). Talk Talk drummer Lee Harris contributed additional production. Gibbons previously released a side project with Talk Talk’s Paul Webb (aka Rustin Man) in 2002 and has not come out with any new Portishead music since 2008’s Third.

“I realized what life was like with no hope,” Gibbons says of the “period of sustained reflection and change” which helped inspire Lives Outgrown. “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.”

Among those formidable changes were motherhood, mortality and even menopause, which Gibbons describes as “a massive comedown.” However, she says “now, I’ve come out of the other end. I just think you’ve got to be brave.”

The video for “Floating on a Moment” was directed by Tony Oursler, who says “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 [and] somehow speculative.”

Gibbons, who was most recently heard guesting on the 2022 Kendrick Lamar song “Mother I Sober,” will tour solo for the first time in more than 20 years this spring, beginning May 27 in Paris. Portishead, meanwhile, has not played a full set since 2015.

Here is the tracklist for Lives Outgrown:

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

Here are Beth Gibbons’ tour dates:

5/27: La Salle Pleyel – Paris

5/28: Theater 11 – Zürich

5/30: Primavera Sound Festival – Barcelona

5/31: La Bourse Du Travail – Lyon

6/02: Uber Eats Music Hall – Berlin

6/03: Falkonersalen – Copenhagen

6/05: Tivoli Vredenburg – Utrecht

6/06: Cirque Royal – Brussels

6/09: The Barbican Centre – London

6/10: Albert Hall – Manchester