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In 2014, Laura Gibson moved from Portland to New York, and to say she's had a rough go would be putting it lightly. Her first week in town, she stepped off a curb and broke her foot. A few months later, her East Village apartment burned down. She escaped unharmed but lost everything she owned, including lyrics for unrecorded songs. Empire Builder, her new album, takes its title from the Amtrak route that brought her to the Big Apple, and as one might expect, much of it deals with relocation, personal transformation, and the pain and triumph that can come from upending your life in one place and starting over somewhere else.
But while the album's themes are inspired by her Eastern migration, Empire Builder itself is a product of Oregon, recorded at the coast in Peter Broderick's studio with assists from Dave Depper, the Decemberists' Nate Query and fellow folk-informed singer-songwriter Alela Diane. First single "The Cause" places her familiar warble against a bed of rattling percussion, dramatic strings, twangy guitar and staccato bass plunks. It's more rhythmic and a tad noisier than what we've come to expect from Gibson, and maybe the first song of hers that could be described as "funky." I could even hear someone rapping over it. May I recommend Hanif for the remix?
Empire Builder is out April 1 on Barsuk. Gibson returns to Portland on April 14 to play the Old Church.
Willamette Week