ARTICLES ABOUT BETH'S ALBUM "OUT OF SEASON"

 

from hmv

This is the first review for the album "Out of Season" from hmv :

Seasons come, seasons go, but some things remain the same. The feeling of being out of season and out of step with the times, the surprise of first time experiences. All the things captured on 'Out Of Season', the album by Beth Gibbons and Paul Webb, aka Rustin' Man.

You'll know Beth from Portishead and Paul from Talk Talk. They've been friends since before Beth joined Portishead when Beth had auditioned for Paul's post-Talk Talk band, O'rang. The pair kept in contact andat the end of the last Portishead tour a break for Beth arose and a conversation sparked the collaboration.

On one level, 'Out Of Season' is all you'd expect an album from the duo's background: exquisitely melodic, haunting…both three-in-the-morning air of calm and nape-hair-raising at the same time. With a spiritual depth, but palpably human emotion. With a definite feeling of sadness, but infused with the joy of nature ("God knows, how I adore life / When the wind turns on theshores lies another day" - 'Mysteries'). But then this is a different record to Portishead or Talk Talk. For one, it's 'beats'-free, and has more of a timeless, feel. Those who love Nick Drake, or Nina Simone, or even Radiohead's 'Exit Music (For a Film)' should unconditionally love 'Out Of Season'.

"The thing that I'm into is the philosophy of the music. I love the surprise of things, the accidents…just the sound of a word, to try to express them in the best way, so that the emotion is totally revealed -Beth Gibbons

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