Laura Gibson is excited to announce her forthcoming new album Empire Builder, slated for release on April 1, 2016 via Barsuk, her second record for the label and fourth LP.
Special guest Chris Staples opens the show at 8:00
TICKETS: $15 student advance, $17 general advance, $20 door (all) All ages, mostly seated, bar w/ ID 7:00 doors, 8:00 show
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When Bob Boilen introduced Laura Gibson at the recording of the first-ever Tiny Desk Concert, he said, "This might be the start of something, it might not be." New beginnings can usher in new waves of creativity and as the Tiny Desks have done for us Laura Gibson's move to New York City in 2014 has been a powerful rejuvenation for her. Since then, her apartment and possessions were destroyed, she was thousands of miles from home, yet she not only stood resilient but channeled those feelings into a big, bold, electric sound on Empire Builder. - NPR All Songs Considered Empire Builder is out April 1 on Barsuk.
NPRs All Songs Considered premiered a track from the new album: http://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2016/01/20/463700835/new-music-from-ray-lamontagne-lucius-a-bowie-cover-from-glen-hansard-more
Empire Builder is named for the Amtrak route Laura Gibson took while moving from Portland, Oregon to New York City in the summer of 2014; a decision to enter graduate school, to move away from a supportive community, a close-knit family and her long-time boyfriend. Out of her comfort zone, she found even more of a challenge than she'd envisioned. Immediately upon arrival, she broke her foot and barely left her 5th floor apartment for the first two months. Then, on March 26th, 2015, her East Village building burned to the ground in a horrific gas explosion which killed two people and left many homeless.
Gibson escaped from her apartment unharmed, but lost everything: all identification, eyeglasses, musical instruments, years of notebooks and every word she had written in response to her move. She spent the next few months rebuilding her life, bouncing between friends' couches and guest rooms, finishing her second semester, and all the while rewriting the lyrics she had lost. A financial recovery was made possible with help and support from hundreds of friends, fans and strangers. It is no surprise that Empire Builder stands as her most personal record to date.
The album marks a huge leap forward for Gibson as a songwriter, composer and producer. Equally raw and focused, Empire Builder captures a life blown open, an individual mid-transformation. Gibson gathered a stellar band of old friends to complement her songs: guitarist/bassist Dave Depper (Death Cab for Cutie, Menomena), drummer/percussionist Dan Hunt (Neko Case) and composer/violinist Peter Broderick. Other contributors include Nate Query of the Decemberists and vocalist Alela Diane. Gibson co-produced the record with John Askew (The Dodos, Neko Case), spending her school breaks in his home studio and in Broderick's studio on the Oregon Coast.
Within her fiction studies in grad school, Gibson is finding her legs as a storyteller. Amidst trauma, loss and recovery, she rediscovered songwriting as a means of understanding her own life and choices. Empire Builder grapples with independence, womanhood, solitude, connection and aloneness. If Gibson has a thesis, it's perhaps within the final words of the title track: "Hurry up and lose me / Hurry up and find me again." With clear-eyed honesty, urgency and warmth, Empire Builder succeeds in capturing the moment between loss and rediscovery.
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