Laura Gibson | |
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 Gibson performing live, 2012 | |
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| Born | (1979-08-09)August 9, 1979 (age 45) Coquille,Oregon, U.S. |
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| Years active | 2004–present |
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Laura Anne Gibson (born August 9, 1979)[1] is an American singer-songwriter. She currently records for the U.S. independent labelBarsuk Records, and the Berlin-based labelCity Slang. Gibson's most recent albumGoners was released October 26, 2018.
In addition to her solo work, Gibson has released a collaboration album with Ethan Rose, titledBridge Carols, in 2009.
Gibson was born and raised in the coastal logging town ofCoquille, Oregon. She was classically trained oncello in her youth.[2] Gibson's father died of cancer in her childhood.[3] She attendedLinfield College inMcMinnville, Oregon where she completed pre-medicine requirements and competed for the Women's basketball and Track and Field teams.[3]
Gibson relocated toPortland, Oregon[4] after graduating from college, and worked odd jobs prior to composing music.[3] She began performing songs for patients athospice homes prior to writing her firstextended play,Amends, which was released independently in 2004.[5] She released her debut album,If You Come to Greet Me in 2006 on the Portland-based indie labelHush Records.[3] Gibson collaborated withThe Decemberists's drummerRachel Blumberg on the release, as well as on her second album,Beasts of Seasons.[2]
Gibson performed atSouth by Southwest in 2007 to promoteIf You Come to Greet Me, and was likened by critics toJolie Holland.[6] In 2008, she appeared onNPR's inaugural installment ofTiny Desk Concerts .[7][8] The concept for the Tiny Desk Concerts was conceived following one of her concerts that NPR music journalistsStephen Thompson andBob Boilen had attended, when they were unable to hear her performance over the noise of the crowd.[9] Boilen then arranged for Gibson to perform at his desk at the NPR office, and it subsequently evolved into a recurring feature.[10] She would later reappear again at the 200th concert.[11]
In 2008, Gibson releasedSix White Horses - Blues & Traditionals Vol. I via Portland-based indie labelHush Records.[12] In 2009, she released a collaboration album with Ethan Rose, titledBridge Carols, which featured experimental vocals and was recorded in various outdoor locations.[13]
Her third release,La Grande (2012), was named after and inspired by the city ofLa Grande, Oregon,[2] and received critical acclaim;Pitchfork wrote of the album: "Rather than another exercise in genre-dabbling and dilettantism,La Grande succeeds as a cohesive work thanks to the persistence of Gibson's vision. As a songwriter she's preoccupied with those timeless questions of the human condition, but seldom if ever stumbles into pretension or self-satisfaction."[14]
Gibson has composed music and lyrics for multiple commercials, including a version of "Hey There Little Red Riding Hood" forVolvo, as well as original music forMicrosoft and the Humane Society.[15] In 2014 Gibson composed the song "Live Long in Oregon" for the Cover Oregon Campaign, the Oregon branch of the Affordable Health Care Act. The commercial was discussed on several national news outlets. After Oregon dropped its state run coverage, the commercial was parodied on the premiere episode ofLast Week Tonight with John Oliver, featuringLisa Loeb in Gibson's role.
In 2015, Gibson was principal composer and lyricist for Up the Fall, a musical production created for performers with developmental disabilities, for the Portland-based Non-Profit PHAME Academy. She has also collaborated withOregon Ballet Theatre and Portland Playhouse. On April 1, 2016, Gibson released her fourth album,Empire Builder.[16]
In 2014, Gibson relocated from Portland, Oregon toNew York City to complete aMaster of Fine Arts in fiction writing atHunter College.[17]
On March 26, 2015 Gibson's Manhattan apartment was destroyed in the2015 East Village gas explosion which killed two people. Gibson was home at the time of the explosion but escaped unharmed. A recovery fund, established by friends and fans, raised several thousand dollars.[17]
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