Lives Outgrown

Last updated

Lives Outgrown
Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown.png
Studio album by
Released17 May 2024 (2024-05-17)
Recorded
  • Devon Barn
  • Bristol State of Art
  • Studio 53
  • Snap
  • Konk
Genre Chamber pop
Length45:51
Label Domino
Producer
Beth Gibbons chronology
Henryk Górecki: Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs)
(2019)
Lives Outgrown
(2024)
Singles from Lives Outgrown
  1. "Floating on a Moment"
    Released: 7 February 2024
  2. "Reaching Out"
    Released: 10 April 2024
  3. "Lost Changes"
    Released: 15 May 2024

Lives Outgrown is the debut solo studio album by English musician Beth Gibbons, released on 17 May 2024 through Domino Recording Company. [1] The album was produced by Gibbons, James Ford and Lee Harris. [2] It was preceded by the singles "Floating on a Moment", "Reaching Out", and "Lost Changes". [3] [4] The album received positive reviews from critics, and was nominated for the 2024 Mercury Prize. [5]

Contents

Background and composition

Gibbons wrote the album over a decade, with topics specific to her walk of life nearing age 60, including "motherhood, anxiety, menopause, and mortality". [1] Gibbons said that the album was directly influenced by the deaths of family and friends over the preceding several years and she "realised what life was like with no hope". [6]

Release

On 7 February 2024, Gibbons announced the album alongside it's lead single, "Floating on a Moment". [7] [8] She released the album's second single, "Reaching Out", on 10 April 2024. [3] [9] The album's third single, "Lost Changes", was released on 15 May 2024. [4] [10]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 88/100 [11]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [12]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [13]
Mojo Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [14]
NME Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [15]
Pitchfork 8.0/10 [16]
Record Collector Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [17]
The Skinny Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [18]
Slant Magazine Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [19]
Uncut 9/10 [20]

Lives Outgrown received a score of 88 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on 22 critics' reviews, which the website categorised as "universal acclaim". [11] Uncut felt that "Lives Outgrown is a quite different prospect to Gibbons' previous work – more intimate, more personal, coloured by the grief and goodbyes she has weathered in recent years. But it is still possible to find a thread that runs from here to Out of Season , and back to Portishead". [20] The Wire called it "timeless and considered" and "a complete, but still complicated, portrait of the intersection of grief and life", [21] and Mojo wrote that while it can "all sound bleak[, ...] Lives Outgrown is also very beautiful". [14]

The Skinny 's Patrick Gamble described the album as "a haunting collection of torch songs" as well as "a record about departures and the transition to a new equilibrium". [18] Charles Lyons-Burt of Slant Magazine said that it "picks up where Portishead's 2008 album, Third , left off, with detail-rich orchestral chamber pop backing a stunning exploration of aging and grief" that is "as captivating as it is devastating". [19] Record Collector 's Johnnie Johnstone concluded that Lives Outgrown is "an album to fall deeply in love with. If you allow them to, these songs will envelop your soul." [17]

Reviewing the album for AllMusic. Heather Phares described the album as being, "steeped in the emotional and physical realities of living long enough to bring life into the world and to see it leave" and concluded that "Lives Outgrown reveals Gibbons' music is only getting richer as the years pass." [12] Alexis Petridis from The Guardian also highlighted the level of growth displayed on the album, writing: "A dispatch from the darker moments of middle age, Lives Outgrown is occasionally challenging, frequently beautiful and invariably gripping." [13] Ben Cardew at Pitchfork noted the eclecticism of Gibbon's music, saying that "Leftfield choices underscore the courageous and subtly unusual nature of Gibbons' album, which hides its eccentricity behind her deathless voice and sympathetic lyrical insight." [16]

Year-end lists

Numerous critics and publications listed Lives Outgrown in their year-end ranking of the best albums of 2024.

Select year-end rankings for Lives Outgrown
Publication/criticAccoladeRankRef.
AllMusic The AllMusic 2024 Year In Review [22]
Alternative Press 50 best albums of 2024 [23]
Crack The Top 50 Albums of 202434 [24]
Double J The 50 best albums of 202416 [25]
The Economist The Economist’s pick of the best albums of 2024 [26]
The Line of Best Fit The Best Albums of the Year16 [27]
The New York Times Best Albums of 20247 [28]
NPR Music 50 Best Albums of 2024 [29]
Mojo 75 Best Albums of 20243 [30]
Mondo Sonoro Los mejores discos internacionales de 202424 [31]
NME The 50 best albums of 202426 [32]
Oor OOR’s Eindlijst 20249 [33]
Paste The 100 Best Albums of 202415 [34]
PopMatters The 80 Best Albums of 202424 [35]
Rough Trade UK Albums of the Year 202444 [36]
Slant The 50 Best Albums of 202416 [37]
Time The 10 Best Albums of 20241 [38]
Uncut 80 Best Albums of 20243 [39]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Beth Gibbons; "Tell Me Who You Are Today", "Burden of Life", "Rewind", and "Beyond the Sun" written with Lee Harris.

Lives Outgrown track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Tell Me Who You Are Today"3:55
2."Floating on a Moment"5:26
3."Burden of Life"3:35
4."Lost Changes"5:41
5."Rewind"4:47
6."Reaching Out"4:15
7."Oceans"3:43
8."For Sale"4:25
9."Beyond the Sun"3:54
10."Whispering Love"6:10
Total length:45:51

Personnel

Musicians

Technical

Visuals

Charts

Chart performance for Lives Outgrown
Chart (2024)Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA) [40] 50
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [41] 5
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [42] 11
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [43] 4
Danish Albums (Hitlisten) [44] 15
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [45] 14
French Albums (SNEP) [46] 13
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [47] 5
Irish Albums (IRMA) [48] 96
Italian Albums (FIMI) [49] 69
Japanese Hot Albums ( Billboard Japan ) [50] 67
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [51] 37
Polish Albums (ZPAV) [52] 69
Portuguese Albums (AFP) [53] 9
Scottish Albums (OCC) [54] 4
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) [55] 36
Swedish Physical Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [56] 9
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [57] 4
UK Albums (OCC) [58] 7
UK Independent Albums (OCC) [59] 1

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