Photo by Netti Habel

Death is coming for us all, and in some instances, you can never be too sure whether the warm path you’ve found yourself on may in fact lead to your demise earlier than expected. Beth Gibbons acknowledges that she is but a mere passenger along for that ride headed into oblivion with “Floating On A Moment”, the lead single from the Portishead vocalist’s first solo effort, Lives Outgrown. “I’m floating on a moment / Don’t know how long / No one knows / No one can stay.” From that vantage point, she travels her own closing loop with the same kind warmth as one might if they believed they had all of the time left in the world. An bassline toes in as instruments chime celestial, as if awakening a new day of sun. There’s even a children’s chorus to welcome her toward her end journey into the great big nothing on the other side. Where her work in Portishead often places an unease of darkness directly on its surface, Gibbons subverts it here in a way that makes the death rattle sound more like a welcome to a well earned rest. Until that day comes, she’s giving every moment meaning.

Directed by: Tony Oursler

Beth Gibbons’ Lives Outgrown will be released May 17th on Domino Recording Co.