Laura Gibson and Ethan Rose — Bridge Carols
Ethan is an electro-acoustician who has been releasing solo albums for the past few years exploring the properties of antiquated instruments as well as playing extensively as part of Small Sails, a local electronic pop and film outfit. Laura is a folk singer, songwriter and guitarist whose two solo albums showcase her brand of jaunty revivalisms and melancholy lyrics. So while they both share a passion for acoustic instrumentation, Laura’s work preserves their form and language while Ethan’s abstracts them, often without words getting in the way. So, this collaboration provided Ethan with the opportunity to work with voice while Laura’s songwriting was unshackled by the process that travelled back and forth between improvised song and ambient composition. The result is a distilled, singular vision of dreamy summer mornings in the countryside.
Laura’s voice (whose southernly syllables often bring Leigh Nash to mind) is subtly edited, with the occasional glitchy stutter or extension, juxtaposing words and phrases from different sessions. This conjures up the loose, internal discussions that can occur when slowly waking up from a deep sleep, yawning as any meanings fade from memory. Behind these hazy greetings to the day are Ethan’s “soundscapes” of treated chords played on guitar and strings that reliably intone on the first beat of each lengthy bar, creating rays of light whose trails shimmer and slide with a natural glow. Other sounds compliment this slow, lazy atmosphere – ‘Younger’ has a tinkling wind chime to describe a light breeze and warm horns join in with an introspective refrain; while, rustling movements travel across the stereo field in ‘Leaving, Believing’ like unseen small animals in a hedgerow.
But this sheer vividity in evoking the feeling of waking up in a sun-filled pasture can be both a strength and a weakness. All nine tracks seem to have very similar pace, structure and timbral palette forming slow, steady songs that arouse the same rise and shine. Taken in small doses the effect is original, relaxing and pleasant enough, but across a whole album it can feel like a Groundhog Day of summer mornings creating a yearning for the contrast of night