Search - Beth Gibbons, Rustin Man :: Out of Season

Timeless and Beautifully Haunting

M. Starr | Kansas City | 11/01/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

""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 GibbonsOut of Season, the new debut album from Portishead's Beth Gibbons and Talk Talk's Paul Webb, has practically left me speechless. These two have really made musical beatitude with this release. I struggle to find anything wrong with it. This album seeps into your psyche and warms your insides. It's achingly beautiful, hopeful, and melancholic from start to finish. Artists of this genre will be scratching their heads for quite some time trying to figure out how they'll top it. Conversely, one might think Out of Season is nothing new, but they'd be wrong. It's a near perfect album, which can't be said in too many cases these days. Imagine yourself driving down a two-lane country road on a beautiful fall morning. The leaves are changing, and you feel like your grandparents when you find yourself saying, "Aren't the leaves just incredibly beautiful this time of year?" That is exactly what can be said for every single song on Out of Season. The lyrics, "Autumn leaves/beauty's got a hold on me," from the song "Sand River," basically summarize this similitude. Most of these songs in some way recall a Portishead song without any sign of a monumental drumbeat. "Spider Monkey," in fact, is a song that's almost like having sex without the ability to climax. If there were ever a song that needed the aid of drums, "Spider Monkey" would be first in line. The song begins with a Fender Rhodes that is slowly joined by an attacking acoustic guitar that will eventually inflate this song to orgasmic proportion. Unfortunately, you'll be left kicking and screaming on the floor for the song to come back and give you what you feel you deserve. The song "Show" finds Gibbons exploring the vocal styling of the great Billie Holiday. I picture Webb and Gibbons alone together in the studio embracing loss through their music. Maybe even a guest appearance by Thom Yorke wouldn't be out of place here. "Romance," is backed by what I consider to be a renewed clan of Lawrence Welk's orchestra. I'm instantly taken back to 1976 when my grandparents used to take me out to eat after church at one of the many American Cafeterias. How Rustin and Gibbons pull this off with such style and grace is beyond me. I have to be honest with you here. I ache with wonder at how an album this good could be made. Nothing, for even a spare moment, sounds as if it has been forced. If Gibbons is giving us a mere glimpse of what is to come on the new Portishead album (not that this album even has anything to do with Portishead), I think we'll see their best album yet. Furthermore, not all of the acclaim should go to Beth Gibbons. Much respect is also due to Paul Webb. If this is truly the album he has always wanted to record, he has certainly done it. So, without further ado, I give you Out of Season. It's my choice for album of the year in 2002."

You cannot resist suffering like this.....

Daly Mavorneen | Los Angeles, CA | 12/11/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Music for late nights

J. Holmes | yokohama, japan | 08/16/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"a near masterpiece of sullen meloncholia that evokes the spirit of great british folk. lovers of Scott Walker, Sandy Denny, and Nick Drake (there's even a song on here titled "Drake") would find themselves quite pleased with this album. the production on this album suits itself perfectly. it's very sparse and bare like a deserted beach in the winter time. it allows the fragile and thin vocals of Beth Gibbons to rest quietly on top of the musical frame. the songs creak along, telling tales of lost love and life's letdowns and occasionaly there's a faint spark of a pop song that finds it's way out of the blue...such as the single "Tom the Model." but it's the first song that breaks my heart everytime i hear it. there's just something about that melody absolutely crushes me and with it's lyrics of "when the timebell blows my heart and i have scored a better day" just sets my mind reeling of many memories. truly a touching and timeless song that i feel lucky to have heard. "Out Of Season" is an exquisite and delicate album that i find myself listening to late at night."