ARTIST: Laura Gibson
TITLE: If You Come to Greet Me
LABEL: Hush Records
GENRE: Indie
BITRATE: 182kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 37m total
RELEASE DATE: 2006-11-14
RIP DATE: 2006-11-01
Track List
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1. This Is Not The End 3:15
2. Hands In Pockets 3:09
3. Nightwatch 4:38
4. Broken Bottle 4:31
5. Wintering 6:14
6. Small Town Parade 4:17
7. Country, Country 2:49
8. Certainty 3:43
9. The Longest Day 5:01
Release Notes:
Daughter of a forest ranger and town kindergarten teacher, Laura Gibsons root
runs deep in the small coastal logging town of Coquille, Oregon. An outsider to
the burgeoning Portland music scene, Gibsons early choice of venues (an AIDS
hospice here, a kindergarten class there) and complete lack of music scene
knowledge (she listens to very little recorded music) may have confused the
erstwhile veterans, but her homespun, ginger sincerity, her enchanting voice,
and her mature songwriting won em all over in a heartbeat.
Listening to If You Come To Greet Me, its immediately apparent something magical
happened at Portlands Typefoundry Recording Studio in the spring of 2006 with
the capable assistance of Adam Selzer (Norfolk and Western) behind the board.
Gibson demonstrates a confident fingerpicking style while bathing the punctuated
notes in her languorous vocal phrasing. Its haunting. And its perfectly
bolstered with gorgeous, warm, orchestral arrangements that never detract from
the melodic backbone of Gibsons songwriting. By the end of the sessions, almost
all the members of Norfolk and Western (Adam Selzer - vocal, electric guitar,
Rachel Blumberg - drums, Peter Broderick viola, saw, and Cory Gray - trumpet,
piano) enthusiastically lent performances. The latter two were so pleased with
the outcome they signed up to back Gibson whenever their schedules allowed.
Wayne Miller filled out the troupe with tasteful, loping upright bass lines and
Alex James (Dolorean) stopped in to sing a few bars.
If You Come To Greet Me demonstrates a rich tapestry of emotion over nine
songs--hope, ennui, reflection, inspiration, loneliness, happiness and
yearning--all stitched together with a steady songwriting hand, where imagery
dovetails with melody in an irresistible way: And I could be the queen of our
small town parade / You could be the leader of a bold marching band / You could
play the drum / And I could wave my hand / For the crowd. One can almost conjure
up mainstreet Coquille, Oregon, or for that matter Hometown, Anyplace, where the
people, sky and land are all a little more well-acquainted, for better and for
worse, and the human dramas unfold ordinary and extraordinary, depending on how
you look at it.