Laura Gibson

If You Come to Greet Me

(HUSH)

Record Review by Janelle Finamore

Laura Gibson’s debut album, If You Come to Greet Me, is comparable to a group of vignettes that are intricately woven together with strings of melody and song.  Her soft, clear voice complements her story-like lyrics, which are full of character and metaphor. In several of Gibson’s vignettes, she lives in the “body” of some other object. For instance, in track three, Laura lives the life of a broken bottle laying in a crowded bar awaiting the band to start up again.  In “Small Town Parade,” she imagines being the queen of the parade.  In “Hands in pockets,” Gibson writes: “I’ll be another waking shadow cast on the covers of your bed.”  She takes flight circling the trees as a bird in the warm, subdued piece entitled “Wintering.”  She even decides to become a nightwatch in track three, so that she can easily watch the stars and satellites from the roof of her apartment. All this pretending and fantasizing about being something else makes one wonder about this elusive Laura Gibson; who is she, and why does she love becoming other things rather than just being herself?

Gibson’s thought-provoking lyrics are just as powerful and intimate as her musical composition. If You Come to Greet Me opens with a sweet, slow ballad consisting of warm orchestral additions in “This is not the end.”  The album continues on the musical theme of soft and slow sounds with light guitar picks. There are a few more upbeat tunes including “Small town parade” and “Country, Country,” however calm and soothing seems to be her forte.  She includes a nice little waltz in “Nightwatch,” in which she writes that “memories are silent films I’ll play from time to time.”  Gibson’s storytelling, creativity, and poetic ability are the most intriguing highlights of her songwriting, and the album is worth a listen (or two) for at least those reasons.