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it's been a great many year since the last time we heard a peep out from portishead, who provided the big jumpstart to the entire trip-hop craze with their moody soundtracks to a lost urban life. word is that a new album is on its way, but whilst we wait, we have the portishead's torchbearer beth gibbons out with this acoustic-touched album.

before beth gibbons joined portishead, she had been freelancing with a few musicians, including paul webb, the guitarist from talk talk. she recently re-united with paul to work on this project and after the first song was cut, he took the name of the song title, rustin man (the brooding wind-scarred last track). so, instead of the subtle hip-hop and sampler touches that portishead mixed together with melancholy, we get a 1970s folk feel with psychedelic touches.

starting off the haunting mysteries with the cooing background vocals guiding the gentle guitar figure higher, out of season goes into the slinky brassy tom the model, which brings out the soul in beth's voice. as the album progresses, beth's voice flexes itself, showing a wide variety that wasn't revealed before. due to portishead's sonics, beth's voice was treated more as an accompanying instrument to all the sturm und drang that her partner, geoff barrows, brought. however, in this album, her voice is brought more to the foreground, allowing us to feel more attached as opposed to hearing her sound like a ghost in a machine.

adrian utley, portishead's guitarist, also chips in, although he provides more of a production end, allowing the instruments to breathe and bringing the appropriate texture to the album. this is very warm slow music, perfectly complementing an autumn evening as the weather proves to be unreliable at times, where you spend time indoors, contemplating. pianos and violins that beautifully hint at the sadness in everything. beth gibbons has provided us with an outstanding diversion from our expectations which will fit in the coffeehouses inside our hearts..