Beth Gibbons: Tiny Desk Concert
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Lars Gotrich | May 12, 2025 Beth Gibbons' voice can cleave your heart in half and heal it back together. 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. This set at the Tiny Desk is mostly culled from Lives Outgrown, her densely layered and lived-in album released last year. Sonically, Gibbons' solo debut feels worlds apart from the haunted electronic production of Portishead, yet her existential themes of loss, change and restless curiosity remain. There is, however, an invitation within these new songs to bear witness to Gibbons' own tragedy and transformation. In the daylight of the NPR Music office, she closes her eyes as she leans into the uncertainty of the moment, and turns away once a song ends. For this performance, Gibbons and her seven-piece band opt to perform entirely acoustic, scaling down their sprawling stage show to emphasize the intimacy of these songs. In a way, these versions feel like homemade experiments knit together by trusted comrades — the arrangements still creak with awe and wonder, but the empyrean textures become more grounded. They close with "Mysteries," the opening track from 2002's Out of Season, Gibbons' album-length collaboration with Rustin Man (aka Talk Talk's Paul Webb). "Oh, mysteries of love where war is no more / I'll be there anytime," she sings. But when she turns away this time, Gibbons emits a surprisingly loud and piercing sound from deep within — a wordless warble that reflects all too well that she might have to wait for the turbulence to subside. SET LIST "Tell Me Who You Are Today" "Floating on a Moment" "Lost Changes" "Mysteries" MUSICIANS Beth Gibbons: vocals Eoin Rooney: guitar, background vocals Jason Hazeley: piano Richard Jones: viola, guitar, background vocals Tom Herbert: bass, background vocals Emma Smith: violin, background vocals Howard Jacobs: percussion, wind instruments, background vocals Sophie Hastings: drums, background vocals TINY DESK TEAM Producer: Lars Gotrich Director/Editor: Maia Stern Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame Audio Engineer: Tiffany Vera-Castro Production Assistants: Dora Levite, Ashley Pointer Photographer: Alanté Serene Tiny Desk Copy Editor: Hazel Cills Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins #nprmusic #tinydesk #bethgibbons Support for NPR Music comes from Capital One. Presenting sponsor of the 2025 Tiny Desk Contest. What's in your wallet? Learn more at CapitalOne.com.
Our favorite musicians perform at the NPR Music office.
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In this playlist, we're highlighting our Contest winners who hail from across the country — Alaska to Louisiana — and whose captivating music can't be stifled by genre. From Gaelynn Lea's reinventive style of playing the violin to Tank and The Bangas' contagious, celebratory fervor, these artists' performances stopped us in our tracks. Last year's winner, Quinn Christopherson, stood out to us with his deep, emotional lyrics; listening to his songs feels a bit like someone reaching in and squeezing your heart like a sponge. The talent and passion among these five artists is clear. Their voices are distinct. Most notably, their music is singular enough to stand out among the thousands of other artists who entered the Contest with high hopes of playing at the Desk.