Beth Gibbons: KCRW Live from Apogee Studio

[KCRW]

Written by Marion Hodges

Beth Gibbons’ sonic accomplishments alongside Geoff Barrow, Adrian Utley, and Andy Smith with their band Portishead established her as a defining voice among her 1990s cohort of alt-rock landscape-shifters. Classics like “Sour Times,” “Glory Box,” and “Only You” are equal parts sultry and scary; bracingly fresh electro-noir singles ready to soundtrack to your coolest dreams. 

Core to the Portishead experience is the lingering, nerve rattling power of Gibbons’ voice. It exists in a category all its own, able to transmit a tone, timbre, register, and feeling that exceeds technical prowess. Only Beth Gibbons sounds like Beth Gibbons.

As a solo artist, Gibbons has continued to pierce the zeitgeist, as with her spine tingling feature on “Mother I Sober” from Kendrick Lamar’s 2022 opus Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers. Last year saw the release of her debut solo album Lives Outgrown, whose sound stands firmly on its own. Each track is richly instrumented, often relying on droning and trance-like rhythms to cast a fitting backdrop for Gibbons’ vocals — haunting and soul stirring as ever — as she grapples with life, love, impermanence, and more.

Between Coachella 2025 performances, Gibbons and her band — Thomas Nathaniel Herbert (bass, vocals), Richard Gareth Jones (viola, guitar, vocals), Jason Alexander Hazely-Smith (keyboards), Howard William Jacobs  (percussion, wood wind, vocals), Eoin Rooney (guitar, vocals), Emma Jane Smith (violin, clarinet, guitar,  vocals) Sophie Elizabeth Hastings (drums, harmonium, vocals) — stop by for an exclusive live session at Bob Clearmountain’s Apogee Studio.

Carve out some undivided attention for the hypnotic intensity of this set — which includes Lives Outgrown highlights “Floating on a Moment,” “Tell Me Who You Are Today,” “Rewind,” and the early 2000s deep cut “Tom the Model.” It’s all just a click away via the video at the top of this page.