Beth Gibbons (center) commands the room at Bob Clearmountain’s Apogee Studio.
Beth Gibbons (center) commands the room at Bob Clearmountain’s Apogee Studio.
Video directed by Kylie Hazzard, all photos by Andrea Perez.

Beth Gibbons: KCRW Live from Apogee Studio

Intimate performances, fresh sounds, and candid conversations with a view.

Written by Marion Hodges

Beth Gibbons’ sonic accomplishments alongside Geoff Barrow, Adrian Utley, and Andy Smith with their band Portishead established her as a defining voice among her 1990s cohort of alt-rock landscape-shifters. Classics like “Sour Times,” “Glory Box,” and “Only You” are equal parts sultry and scary; bracingly fresh electro-noir singles ready to soundtrack to your coolest dreams. 

Core to the Portishead experience is the lingering, nerve rattling power of Gibbons’ voice. It exists in a category all its own, able to transmit a tone, timbre, register, and feeling that exceeds technical prowess. Only Beth Gibbons sounds like Beth Gibbons.

As a solo artist, Gibbons has continued to pierce the zeitgeist, as with her spine tingling feature on “Mother I Sober” from Kendrick Lamar’s 2022 opus Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers. Last year saw the release of her debut solo album Lives Outgrown, whose sound stands firmly on its own. Each track is richly instrumented, often relying on droning and trance-like rhythms to cast a fitting backdrop for Gibbons’ vocals — haunting and soul stirring as ever — as she grapples with life, love, impermanence, and more.




Between Coachella 2025 performances, Gibbons and her band — Thomas Nathaniel Herbert (bass, vocals), Richard Gareth Jones (viola, guitar, vocals), Jason Alexander Hazely-Smith (keyboards), Howard William Jacobs  (percussion, wood wind, vocals), Eoin Rooney (guitar, vocals), Emma Jane Smith (violin, clarinet, guitar,  vocals) Sophie Elizabeth Hastings (drums, harmonium, vocals) — stop by for an exclusive live session at Bob Clearmountain’s Apogee Studio.

Carve out some undivided attention for the hypnotic intensity of this set — which includes Lives Outgrown highlights “Floating on a Moment,” “Tell Me Who You Are Today,” “Rewind,” and the early 2000s deep cut “Tom the Model.” It’s all just a click away via the video at the top of this page.

More: Explore KCRW Live From sessions





This KCRW Live From session was recorded and mixed by Bob Clearmountain at Apogee Studio. Learn more at Apogeedigital.com

Credits:
KCRW Music Director: Alejandro Cohen
Live Mix Recording Engineer: Bob Clearmountain
Lead Engineer / FOH: Brandon Duncan Lighting Design: Jack Arthur
Assistant Engineer: Ira Becker
Director / Editor / Colorist: Kylie Hazzard
Camera operators: Kylie Hazzard, Milana Burdette, Rachel Bickert
Executive Producer: Ariana Morgenstern
Senior Producer: Anna Chang
Event Producers: Liv Surnow and Krissy Barker
Creative Consultant: Anne Litt
Digital Producer: Marion Hodges
Digital Editorial Manager: Andrea Domanick
Art Director: Evan Solano


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