Album: La Grande
Year: 2012
Format: NPR First Listen
Grade: C
Portland-based singer/songwriter Laura Gibson's third album builds gently on her old tropes, but doesn't travel too far from her hushed, intimate settings on her first platter for Barsuk Records.
Experiments dot what is an otherwise whispery record. The opening track, "La Grande," is a country dust up with more punch than anything on her overlooked 2009 effort, Beasts of Seasons and "The Fire" brings in a piano for some flavor.
Elsewhere, Gibson's breathy, frail voice is on display. "The Rushing Dark," Grande's best song, features hummed backing vocals, giving it an old-timey feel.
It's the tiniest movement of steps forward, but Gibson does venture out beyond the autumnal landscapes for which she's known.
Tomorrow: Genesis, Seconds Out
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