Out of Season

As collaborations go, the partnership of Portishead's ghostly singer Beth Gibbons and Paul "Rustin Man" Webb (former bassist of '80s pop band Talk Talk) seems an extremely unlikely one. However, as Out of Season shows, the pair have a surprising amount in common, including a love of supremely melancholic melodies and eerily atmospheric backdrops. Ambling quietly from the mournful folk of "Mysteries" through the twilight piano lament of "Show" and the uneasy cinematic sway of "Spyder," Out of Season creates a dreamily sinister otherworld that's both vintage and timeless. Yet, despite relying solely on beautiful bittersweet melodies and acoustic instrumentation to conjure its twisted romance--instead of the usual murky trip-hop beats and studio manipulation associated with Gibbons's dysfunctional songs--the fundamental chill of Portishead is ever present. And that's because, for all the wonderful, sleepy lullabies, it's the haunting isolation she conveys with every note that captivates. Even on the gorgeously hazy lounge tunes "Romance" and "Sand River"--both brimming with Burt Bacharach-style optimism--she manages to sound like Dusty Springfield with a dark and tragic secret. She has an amazingly affecting voice, which makes Out of Season a truly magical album. --Dan Gennoe Amazon.com

Exquisite

I was not at all prepared for this music - I bought the album on a whim, having enjoyed some (but not all) of Portishead's work.

But this is not an album to be taken on a whim - it is absolutely extraordinary, and I find it completely absorbing. So, in I popped the CD, unsuspectingly turned up the volume, and...time stopped. This music really takes rapt, full attention. It is slow, subtle, gentle, complex, surprising, and very, very beautiful. There is an emotional presence in the lilt of the vocals, drifting over a string of creative melodies that I find completely captivating, and the presentation is near perfection.

This is NOT good background music for a party! If you let it, this melancholy work could lift you out of this world and carry you to another place, just for a while. October 2, 2007

Not like Portis much,but its difference isn't a bad thing at all

Ms. Gibbons was great in Portishead as anyone reading this probably knows very well,but with this solo album she takes advantage of the freedoms being a single artist gives.She changes her vocals in a few tunes,goes for a folk feel on some tracks,and has some pleasent lyrics along with a few dark themes;all these elements sound great;she must've spend some time on this one since it doesn't sound rushed.I reccomend this to any Portis fan,or anyone who enjoys chilled-out music in the folk/art-rock/ambient rock vein.Perfect for almost any weather or mood,a feat not many albums can boast of! November 9, 2006

Beth Gibbons must be very lonely at times

Listening to the haunting "Show", the third song on "Out of seasons" I'm reminded in more than one way of the Australian singer Nick Cave. Beth Gibbons has the same chain-smoked voice, an unsatisfying eager for dark, sometimes even depressing moods and there is indeed something filmish, something cinematic about her lyrics.

When I hear her sing this song, or for instance "Tom the model", I vision myself sitting in some dark, damp nightclub, watching an untouchable, badly dressed singer, like in the old film noir movies.
There is indeed something routine-like in her entire presence on this disc. It's more intimate than the Portishead-thing Beth has done, but also a bit more worn-down.

Beth is indeed a nightclub singer who sings her songs for the zillionth time, meanwhile dreaming of getting out, getting anywhere but in the place and present she's in now.
All this has some sort of awkward romantic overtone, so things aren't that sorrowful. It's indeed a nice atmospherical album, with notes that fall like drizzeling raindrops and lines like autumn leaves being blown away by a chilly wind.

"It's a funny time of year" Beth sings in the most stand-out song. "I can see / there'll be no blossoms on the trees." With a `voice of love' that's definitely so out of season...
May 4, 2006

You cannot resist suffering like this.....

With it's subtle nature sound effects, creepy little choral samples and achingly beautful melodies, "Out of Season" casts its shadow over your unsuspecting heart. These tender poems are saturated with bleakness by Gibbons' voice and the ghostly sparseness of the acoustic instruments.

The pain begins with "Mysteries" with the line "Nobody made this war of mine." "Romance" claims, "It's plain to see all the things we suffer/ at the hands of humanity."

When she sings "Summer skies are leaving me behind/like a circle, life is ever moving by" it's less an autumnal afterthought than a realisation of soul damned in "Resolve." The lyric is full of pathos; it's almost a suicide note set to the most romantic tune imaginable.

"Spyder" continues this treatise on suffering as Gibbons whispers, "Time is but a memory/a bitter note unsung/running, trying to find salvation/from the sorrow that is done."

And so it goes until it spends itself in tears and silence. By then, however, you have been transported to the island of the dispossessed.

Easily one of the 3 best CDs to come out in the last 5 years, along with fellow Bristolites Kosheen with their haunting "Resist" and Norway's Slowpho, whose debut "Hotel Sleep" prickles with icy woe. December 11, 2005

Un paso adelante de Portishead

Este es el primer CD que compro de manera on-line, en amazon, o en cualquier otro medio. Y no es arbitrario que asi sea. Beth, tiene el poder de seducir mis actos hasta este punto.
La primer que esuche 'Out of season', definitivamente lo alejé de mi lado y lo saque de mis manifestaciones musicales por un tiempo, tuvo que pasar otro encuentro con el CD, para darle el atributo y la posición que se merecia, una segunda mirada me revelo un sonido mucho mas humilde, despojado de toda la parafernalia electronica (muy atractiva, por cierto) que hacian de estos sonidos una mezcla interesante entre la calma antes de cualquier situación.
Con una voz bastante histrionica y dramatica, la gibbons, nos trasnporta hacia los estados en los cuales ella quiere que caigamos, el musico co-participe de este disco, Rustin Man, se merece toda mi admiración y respeto, por lograr conjugar ese sonido glam electronico (al que nos tenia acostumbrado Beth junto a Portishead) con baladas simples minimas y bellas, una musica del preambulo y la calma de la ausencia y la presencia de situaciones vocales y ritmicas bastante atrayentes y atractivas.

Nada mas que decir, uno de los mejores albumes de mi discoteca, ojla esta unión de más frutos, y ojala que Portishead tambien los de alguna vez.

PD: Adrian Utley el bajista de portishead, tambien participo en este proyecto... asi que no lo vean tan NO PORTISHEAD, pues en escencia vendria siendo como lo mismo, pero renovado. September 10, 2005

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