I had never heard of Laura Gibson before this year. The cover of her album caught my eye. Featuring just Gibson’s face in a yellow top in front of a yellow wall it has the captured in a moment feel, like when the bright lights of a camera catch you standing in front of the wall in a dark club and you quickly look away.
Having moved away from Oregon to New York in order to study creative writing, the building Gibson was living in caught fire and she lost all her belongings including all of her writing. Tragically two people were killed though Gibson was not hurt. Working on the new album, this spirit gets captured in the lyric “Two hearts, new start, every card is wild” from “Two Kids”
Gibson’s fourth, Empire Builder, starts off with the mid temp strut of “The Cause” and is followed up with the sparse “Damn Sure” whose lyrics look back on past plans that didn’t work out. The decisions that you hang your entire life on at the time but then start to fall apart. “Well, I changed my name the day I left, I cut my hair, I hemmed my dress, I was damn sure about it”.
Halfway through the album there is a bit of a lull right after the poetically heartbreaking title track. The aforementioned “Two Kids” picks up the pace while the “The Last One” proves to be one of the better songs on the album. “And maybe I’ll stay, or maybe I’ll hear The tiniest voice whispering to me ‘Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go’” .
After reading a bit about her life, Laura Gibson seems to be a wanderer and discoverer which comes through in her art. Empire Builder is a minimal batch of songs that are confident and excellently played by Dave Depper of Death Cab for Cutie, Dan Hunt (Neko Case’s percussionist), and composer/violinist Peter Broderick. Throughout the album, Gibson captures quite well what its like to be an adult and still trying to figure life out.
7.5/10
Sturgill Simpson has been kicking around for a few years now. His second album, the critically acclaimed Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, crossed over with rock audiences who were hip to his non-mainstream country image. Having seen Sturgill recently in concert, his lively show attracts a diverse crowd of country fans in cowboy hats as well as punk rock, rockabilly and indie rock listeners. In the spring of 2016, Simpson released his major label debut titled A Sailor’s Guide to Earth.
Exactly two years ago we posted a review of Marissa Nadler’s sixth album, July. Earlier this year the talented alt country artist released Strangers. The same spare arrangements and swooning vocal accompany most tracks. The guitar feedback on “Hungry Is The Ghost” is revelatory when placed among the quieter tracks. While the title track is forgettable, the repeated chorus on “Janie In Love” will stick in the head for days.
The term “super group” gets thrown around from time to time in the music press whether its warranted or not. In the case of Minor Victories, it deserves a caveat as we’re not exactly talking about the music equivalent of Kevin Durant joining the Golden State Warriors. Having said that, this is an interesting group of musicians that decided to join forces and record an album (although never in the same studio at the same time). Minor Victories includes Stuart Braithwaite (Mogwai), Rachel Goswell (Slowdive), and Justin Lockey (Editors) along with his brother James. 
As most collectors know, the mid 60s catalogue of The Rolling Stones is a bit of a mish mash of UK vs US versions featuring different track listings and album covers. It’s one of the reasons that Let It Bleed has been the only the Stones disc I’ve owned for many years. Wanting to start at the beginning of their career, I knew where to start but not where to go from there. Having recently finished reading Keith Richards’ entertaining Life autobiography, I went back and did research on how to build an album collection of The Rolling Stones. Taking cues from more knowledgeable fans online, I went out and bought the first five US versions of their albums starting with England’s Newest Hit Makers and man does it not disappoint.
The Light Appears 