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Beth Gibbons ‘still flawless’ on Tiny Desk
Portishead singer Beth Gibbons, whose solo debut Lives Outgrown was released last year, has appeared on NPR Music’s popular Tiny Desk concerts.
The YouTube series is renowned for presenting high profile and emerging artists in an intimate bookshop setting in front of an off-camera live audience, and reaches over 20 million viewers each month.
Notorious recent appearances have included Doechii, Justin Timberlake, Abel Selacoe and Billy Eilish.
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For Gibbons’ show, the vocalist is surrounded by seven band members on a variety of instruments including double bass, viola, percussion, piano and bass clarinet.
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The set begins with a brooding Tell Me Who You Are Today, a plaintive cry made all the more melancholic by the pared back nature of the acoustic performance and haunting backing vocals, and by Gibbons’ own pained delivery.
Floating on a Moment and Lost Changes, both also from Lives Outgrown, follow and the set ends with Mysteries, the opening track from 2002’s Out of Season, Gibbons’ album-length collaboration with Rustin Man.
“Beth Gibbons’ voice can cleave your heart in half and heal it back together,” say NPR.
“Whether fronting Portishead, singing Henryk Górecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs or guesting on a Kendrick Lamar track, Gibbons’ frail yet resilient timbre acts as reassurance that our aching world is worth loving and fighting for. To experience that voice is humbling; up close, it’s breathtaking.”
Viewers have simply responded “pure magic”, “amazing”, “still flawless” and “one of the best live shows I’ve ever attended”.
Main image: Will Oliver
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