NOISE/NEWS NOISE PAR K ER FITZ GER ALD
THE GREAT LAURA GIBSON The folk singer’s new album is a grand gesture TARA MORGAN
Confidence looks good on Laura Gibson. Whereas the Portland, Ore., folk songstress was once known for her introspective whisperings, her new album, Le Grande, flickers with a fiery boldness and nuanced maturity. Gibson doesn’t tentatively step out on a limb with this record, she glides out all hips and red lips. But blot away that bold veneer and you’ll find the same blushingly sincere musician underneath. “I think there’s this sense of just being free that I felt in making this record. … In some ways, it’s very upbeat and, at first glance, might not feel as personal as my other work, but I feel like in some way, allowing myself to really take pleasure in making these songs allowed me to give more of myself than I had in the past,” said Gibson. “Almost in the way that a person writing fiction can say the things that are unsayable.” Listen as the lionhearted Laura Gibson lights up the Lux. From the first spur-rattling stomp of drums on the Western ghost town opener “La surprisingly true to Gibson’s style. She mixes it sings: “For love has got you hanging on my Grande,” with Gibson’s empty-train-station vocals booming above, it’s apparent this record hips / like a well-worn out dress with my skin up even more on gospel-tinged “The Rushing Dark,” singing “I could not stop trembling” showing through.” is a wild departure from 2009’s hushed and in an early lo-fi radio warble, amid a chorus of “I think so much of the record is ... about delicate Beasts of Seasons. According to Gibhumming women. desire and movement forward. So one of the son, she gleaned inspiration for the title track “I got really excited about all these different really important themes was wrestling with on a trip to the sleepy city of La Grande, Ore. kinds of music that I’m really inspired by, and I these two paths—one “I just had this think I had to really give myself license to trust being ultimate freereally magical day, and dom and wildness and that I would be able to pull it together and I think there are these Laura Gibson with Breathe Owl Breathe. make it my own and really let myself indulge this other one being moments when you Sunday, Feb. 19, 8 p.m., $8 adv., $10 door. centered and calm and a bit,” said Gibson. “And just trust in the end go to a place and you product—I know myself and I know that my in relationships; this see all your own hopes NEUROLUX 111 N. 11th St. desire is to make something sincere.” very domestic path,” and desires and chal208-343-0886 In perhaps one of the most-sincere songs on Gibson said. “I felt lenges kind of reflected neurolux.com the album, “Crow/Swallow,” Gibson juggles having ‘Milk-Heavy, back in the landscape the pressure of settling down and starting a Pollen-Eyed’ early and the history of the family with her career path: “And when they on, it kind of gave place,” said Gibson. march by in their motherly smiles / and swaythe presence of relationships, and I think I The song kicks up dusty swirls of imaging their motherly hips / I cannot follow / I needed to add that element early on in the ery—dancing halls, burning sage, planks and cannot keep their pace.” record.” rails, bone-white clay—that help to set the “I feel like I’m in the right place much of Gibson shares a house with long-term mood and ground the album in the galloping boyfriend Sean Ogilvie of Musee Mecanique. the time when I’m touring, and I know I’ll wide open West. Appropriately, the album is littered with love look back on this time with fondness and this “Someone reading the record in French lifestyle with fondness, but it is so nontrasongs—from the sexy track “Skin, Warming would think I called my record, The Great Skin” to the love-drunk “Red Moon,” where ditional. … There’s both excitement in that Laura Gibson, which is definitely erring on and there’s this determination in me to really Gibson sings “I want to carry your torch / the side of confidence,” Gibson laughed. “As follow that path I’m on well. But then there’s and drink up your poetry.” almost an inside joke to myself, I really liked also this other path that is often calling out But those songs are balanced out by songs the double meaning and it felt right to center to me, and I think a lot of this record was me like “Lion/Lamb,” where Gibson’s fiery these songs in a place.” confidence is back at the forefront. Even when wrestling with what to do when you desire But just as quickly as Gibson spins out both of those things.” she sings, “I am not a lamb / I am a lion,” with “La Grande,” she pivots back with the You can watch Gibson wrestle with these it’s with a rippling, shallow pool croon and a album’s second track, “Milk-Heavy, PollenEyed.” The song establishes a sense of vulner- Bossa Nova beat. Flutters of flute and summer intimate themes and kick up her restless heels at Neurolux on Sunday, Feb. 19, with opener raindrops of piano give the song an ethereal ability that pairs nicely with her newfound confidence. Amid twinkling piano, she slowly mood that both plays with the genre and stays Breathe Owl Breathe. WWW. B OISEWEEKLY.C O M
CHA-CHA-CHA CHANGES Treefort Music Fest, Boise’s SXSW after-party, has finally dropped the whole enchilada on a rapt local music scene: More than 130 bands will be coming from as far away as Australia. You can check out the complete lineup on Cobweb at boiseweekly.com. Oddly enough, The Bouquet is slated to be part of the festival. This is odd because the club locked its doors in January and put up a sign that it would reopen several weeks later under new ownership. However, a recent post on The Bouquet’s website said that, because of problems with the building, Mercury Management (the company that took over the bar) would be searching for a different space. The website went offline several days later. Mercury Management representative Jessica Doherty told BW in an email that the new location they’re searching for will not carry the name of The Bouquet. Multiple messages to building owner Tyson Twilegar about the dispute and the future of the space went unreturned. But despite all that, Treefort organizers still have shows booked at the space for the festival’s opening night. Good luck. Another downtown club going through some changes is The Red Room. On Feb. 8, Red Room music booker Keesha Renna sent out an email announcing that she was leaving the club to work independently and that bookings past Wednesday, Feb. 15, were no longer guaranteed. Several of the higher-profile shows Renna booked, such as Glitterati Burlesque and parts of the Treefort Music Festival, will remain at Red Room. But Renna will now be booking independently under the handle of Vagabond Promotions. Also reaching the end of its run is filesharing site btjunkie.com. The site, which was a longtime favorite for music and film piraters, called it quits in the wake of the megaraid on Megaupload that resulted in the arrests of five of its operators on a laundry list of charges, ranging from violating copyright to racketeering to conspiracy to commit money laundering. Btjunkie posted a goodbye message: “We’ve decided to voluntarily shut down. We’ve been fighting for years for your right to communicate, but it’s time to move on.” According to Torrentfreak, a number of other popular torrent sites like Filesonic and Fileserve have restricted third-party file access, begun mass file deletions or banned U.S. IP addresses, as well. This gives weight to two different arguments swirling around in the SOPA/PIPA debate: that the laws aren’t necessary for the Department of Justice to enforce copyright law, and that torrent sites are fully aware that their sites are being used to illegally transfer copyrighted content. —Josh Gross
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