Review: Beth Gibbons – Lives Outgrown

Beth Gibbons has been making music for over 2 decades. Being of Portishead, she certainly is no stranger to some sort of spotlight. Her serenely melancholic vocals soaring behind the sometimes warm, sometimes extremely eerie production is the main highlight of the entire group. Lives Outgrown is Beth’s first album as a solo artist, and be warned, if you’re expecting a mere Portishead ripoff, you’ll be highly disappointed.

Album cover of Beth Gibbons' Lives Outgrown

Lives Outgrown is rooted in folk music, but that would be the worst way to pigeonhole the beautiful art that Beth has created here. There’s an everlasting sense of melancholy and a heaviness draped over the entire 46-minute runtime. The cold atmosphere of chamber pop is just as prevalent as the folky backdrop of the whole album. Take for example the aptly titled “Burden of Life”. The desolate acoustics hum as Beth’s haunting voice croons that “the burdens of life just won’t leave us alone”. Lives Outgrown has a sense of dread around every corner. Yes, this is folk music but the underlying darkness gives you the vibe of Beth making her way through a medieval village of some sort. Pleading for help as she tries to escape capture. On “Oceans”, Beth complains about her life being “tired and worn” as the acoustics create a dark “old Western” esque atmosphere.

I truly hope Beth is alright because this is some extremely dark and morbid stuff. The outright depressing lyrics are as if Beth is writing in her diary about all her hopes and dreams that have been dashed into pieces. Right when you feel a sense of being uplifted, the dreadful atmosphere and haunting vocals will pull you right back down. One step forward, two steps back. That’s how life can be a lot of the time. Lives Outgrown is in a league of its own.