Beth Gibbons has turned inactivity into an art form. At Portishead she sang like she was hanging on to the microphone for dear life, her voice the embodiment of dull misery. Her recorded output since then has arrived at a snail's pace and her reputation has grown with each fallow. After the release of Portishead's Thirdin 2008, Gibbons performed Górecki's Agreement No. 3 with the Polish National Radio Symphony, appearing on Kendrick Lamar's 'Mother I Sober', and doing valuable things in public. Gibbons doesn't do anything she doesn't have to and she does it in her own sweet time, which makes the arrival He lives out of date it feels like an apocalyptic occasion.
So why He lives out of date to bring Gibbons out of her shell? And why now? “People started dying,” he said. Three full decades after Portishead first appeared on the scene, she reintroduces herself with an album inspired by goodbyes, informed by the kind of perspective only possible by looking back. He added, “When you're young, you never know the end, you don't know how it's going to turn out.” In his heart He lives out of date it's a push and pull between past, present and future, with Gibbons delving into her personal history for inspiration while studiously avoiding the palette that made Portishead so beloved.
Stylistically, He lives out of date approaches folk music, thanks to acoustic guitars and strings. but it feels denser, louder and more exploratory, like stumbling upon a junkyard deep in the woods. Unusual textures abound: On “Tell Me Who You Are Today,” producer James Ford (of Simian Mobile Disco) strikes piano strings with metal spoons. for another track, he and Gibbons twirl strings above their heads, searching for the perfect creepy tone.
Melodies of endless melancholy and lyrics of sharp depth, reminiscent of Gibbons' work with Portishead and (briefly) Rustin Man, her duo with Talk Talk's Paul Webb, reflect the singer's period of self-reflection. He lives out of date has moments of overwhelming relatability as she grapples with issues like motherhood, stress and menopause, her colorless humanity a world away from the otherworldly rage she inhabited Third. “Out of control/heading towards a boundary/That divides us/Reminds us,” she sings on “Floating on a Moment,” with a beautifully sparse beat and tone, while the opening couplet of “Ocean” (“Fake morning, a stake for relief/I never noticed the pain I'm moving on”) distills years of dull suffering into two elegant lines. Her melodies are strong as iron: The elegantly inescapable “Floating on a Moment” and the cathartic “Whispering Love” are among the best songs Gibbons has put her name to.
