If You Come To Greet Me

Listening to If You Come To Greet Me, it’s immediately apparent something magical happened at Portland’s Typefoundry Recording Studio in the spring of 2006 with the capable assistance of Adam Selzer (Norfolk and Western) behind the board. Gibson demonstrates a confident fingerpicking style while bathing the punctuated notes in her languorous vocal phrasing. It’s haunting. And it’s perfectly bolstered with gorgeous, warm, orchestral arrangements that never detract from the melodic backbone of Gibson’s songwriting.

If You Come To Greet Me demonstrates a rich tapestry of emotion over nine songs--hope, ennui, reflection, inspiration, loneliness, happiness and yearning--all stitched together with a steady songwriting hand, where imagery dovetails with melody in an irresistible way. One can almost conjure up main street Coquille, Oregon, or for that matter Hometown, Anyplace, where the people, sky and land are all a little more well-acquainted, for better and for worse, and the human dramas unfold ordinary and extraordinary, depending on how you look at it.