Laura Gibson – Beasts of Seasons

Beasts of Seasons – Laura Gibson

by Aidan Roberts

In the current explosion of excellent independent folk music from the States, a release as clear and moving as this album is a rarity. Laura Gibson from Portland OR. has risen from total obscurity to a slowly spreading indie hero status, and the warm and thrilling production values on this album will ensure its widespread embrace. Here the wintry, broken qualities of her voice and her pine-box guitar are carried on quite a cinematic journey, beginning with the exquisite Shadows on Parade, where a ghostly barrage of static and feedback introduces us to her haunted world. It feels like a death of sorts, which then propels the record into a sort of flashback of meditations on life, humanity and death. Lushly orchestrated with small ensemble strings, trumpets and banjos, the textures in songs like Come By Storm and Funeral Song are a knockout. The songwriting is very strong – spare and melodic, and ripe with curious images and feelings; the train-driving, rollicking ballad Spirited is reminiscent of Feist and Gillian Welch at their best. This is exciting, wonderful stuff, not to be missed.

****1/2