This record is beautifully sung of course – the Portishead vocalist is and remains one of the greats of the modern era – but Lives Outgrown is every bit as much about texture and arrangement. It’s produced by James Ellis Ford, who also plays drums on it, and you can see from live performances that its creation was a profound act of collaboration between him, Gibbons and the other musicians to create perfect balance where no sound dominates but everything from strings to tom-toms compliments the textures of Gibbons’s voice. There’s something of a doom-drone-folk sound to this, not a million miles from Ireland’s Lankum, but where that band is rooted in vast weight of sound, this feels like it’s in a zero-gravity dream space where deep human emotions can be viewed from all sides at once. It’s one to sink deep into and float away…

Discounting Out Of Season, her 2002 collaboration with Talk Talk bassist Paul ‘Rustin Man’ Webb, Lives Outgrown is Portishead singer Beth Gibbon’s first ever solo album, arriving 16 years after her old band’s final effort, Third, and a full 30 since their ground-shifting debut. Perhaps not coincidentally, the passing of time is a key concern on Lives Outgrown. Or more specifically, the devastation left in its wake. Gibbons has said that these songs were inspired by loss, grief, climate change and her experience of menopause and one only need to look at some of the song titles — “Lost Changes” (“all I want is for you to love me the way you used to”), “Burden Of Life” (“the burden of life just won’t leave us alone”) — for an indication of the mood herein. While Gibbons’ distinctive vocals have long been a vessel for sadness and despair, the likes of “Floating On A Moment” (Massive Attack’s “Teardrop” had it been recorded by The Incredible String Band) and closing track “Whispering Love” (tentative shoots of hope sprouting through its Wicker Man-like folk), show that she can still conjure a dark beauty that is unmatched.