If You Come to Greet Me

Album review

In the years since their biggest early act, the Decemberists, made the jump first to Kill Rock Stars and then to Capitol Records, the tiny Portland, OR, indie Hush Records has quietly turned into one of the most consistently interesting small labels in the country. Although Hush has its share of pop bands (Norfolk & Western, featuring ex-Decemberists drummer Rachel Blumberg; the flat-out terrific Parks & Recreation), the label has also developed an impressive stable of folk and country-tinged singer/songwriters, including Casey Dienel, Shelley Short, and now, Laura Gibson. Gibson's second album and first for the label (her 2004 debut, Amends, was self-released), If You Come to Greet Me is a textbook Hush release. Folk-based but not in the self-consciously "weird" tradition of the Devendra Banhart wing of the current folk-rock revival, these nine intimate songs are centered on Gibson's close-miked nylon-string guitar and warm, appealingly scratchy voice. (Imagine Joanna Newsom singing much lower than her trademark Betty Boop register, and more assuredly on pitch.) However, Gibson's backing band on this album is the core of Norfolk & Western (Blumberg on drums and vibes, Peter Broderick on various stringed things and musical saw, Cory Gray on piano and trumpet, and leader Adam Selzer on electric guitar and samples; Selzer also co-produced and mixed), and the album has the same rich alt-folk vibe as their own recent releases, like a less trippy and emotionally fragile Neutral Milk Hotel. The resulting combination of singer/songwriter directness and subtle but exquisitely detailed chamber pop arrangements gives If You Come to Greet Me greater musical depth than many similar neo-folk albums.

© Stewart Mason /TiVo