Laura Gibson

Originating from Coquille, a modest rural settlement in Oregon, Laura Gibson pursues work as a singer and songwriter while maintaining her identity as a cellist grounded in classical technique. She forms part of the Pacific Northwest folk-pop movement that emerged around the Portland indie imprint Hush Records, once the home of the Decemberists. Rachel Blumberg, who had served as drummer for the Decemberists, contributed to Gibson’s opening pair of releases: If You Come to Greet Me in 2006 and Beasts of Seasons in 2009. On the latter record, backing vocals were supplied by Shelley Short and Laura Veirs, two other Oregon-based singer-songwriters. Gibson’s experimental indie folk relies on her singular voice and moves between spare delicacy and full-bodied lushness. In 2009 she joined composer Ethan Rose for the album The Bridge Carols. Her third solo studio album, La Grande—named after the northeastern Oregon town she described as a place that “people usually pass through on their way to somewhere else, but which contains a certain gravity, a curious energy”—appeared in early 2011. During the following years she produced music for advertisements and for charitable efforts that included the Cover Oregon Campaign and the Humane Society, while also writing material for local stage productions and collaborating with the Oregon Ballet Theatre and Portland Playhouse. Gibson resumed solo recording in 2016 with Empire Builder, her second project for the Seattle indie label Barsuk Records. A 7" single containing “The Easy Way” and “Animals” followed on Jealous Butcher Records the next year. In 2018 she issued Goners, her fifth studio album, an evocative collection centered on grief and accountability.