Empire Builder
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Equally raw and focused, Empire Builder captures a life blown open: an individual mid-transformation. Gibson’s most personal record to date, it marks a huge leap forward as a songwriter, composer and producer.
She gathered a stellar band of dear old friends: 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 (Neko Case, The Dodos), spending her time in his home studio, and in Broderick’s studio on the Oregon Coast. With Askew’s encouragement, Gibson returned to the recordings soon after the explosion of the apartment house in NYC (she lost almost all that she owned and had been working on. All identification, stacks of notebooks, and every word she had written in the past several years). Having lost her guitar (all her musicial instruments), which she had played on every record and show since the beginning, they decided to keep many of the scratch tracks from the original demos, building around them to create the final album.
The result is an enchanting record, showcasing some of Laura Gibson’s most immediate & memorable work to date, sewn together with her distinctively delicate vocals & captivating story-telling lyrics.
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