On La Grande, Portland, Oregon’s Laura Gibson expands upon the fragile alt-folk of her previous releases while retaining the qualities that make her such an appealing example of contemporary Americana.

My introduction to Gibson came in the live setting, where she opened for and accompanied a solo show by Decemberist Colin Meloy to fabulous effect. His tour CD Colin Meloy Sings Sam Cooke also happened to be enriched by Gibson’s strong backing vocals, their presence prompting me to seek out Six White Horses: Blues and Traditionals Vol. 1, an exceptional all covers EP featuring versions of a half-dozen tunes drawn from such acoustic legends as Elizabeth Cotten, Mance Lipscomb and Furry Lewis.

While released by Hush, the Portland-based label that served as the early home of the Decemberists, Six White Horses still felt very much like a homemade document, the kind of recording passed around amongst friends/fans that slowly gains a small, devoted following. From there I tracked down 2006’s If You Come to Greet Me and 2009’s Beasts of Seasons, two full length records that showed Gibson’s talent extending beyond the realms of imaginative interpretation. Both records detailed an ability to sound out-of-time without seeming contrived and combined this with a talent to express vulnerability and loss without registering as maudlin.

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Spirit Animal plays the Black Cat backstage next Monday, February, 27th.

“After moving away from DC in 2003, the act of returning to visit became a guaranteed great time. Re-frequenting the Black Cat, Saint Ex, The Big Hunt, and the other bars where my friends still worked was something I looked forward to every single time.”

“One of these kind souls who I loved to go see shows with was Ana Marin, now a chef at Bibiana (w00t!) and a long-time area bartender. She told me we HAD to go see this band, The Points, ’cause they were doing some legit punk rock at a time when the genre had pretty much disappeared, even in a city as steeped in hardcore and punk as DC. So, naturally, I agreed excitedly.

But then I missed the show.

I don’t know if they went on exactly on time and I didn’t expect them to, or if I was just slacking that night for some odd reason. But when I arrived, Ana handed me a copy of their 7″, “RNR No Rules” —which she had bought me. She said their set was awesome and I apologized for missing them. Then we had beers.

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