Laura Gibson shares "Empire Builder", a snapshot of "utter unknowing, of self-doubt and confliction"

Speaking about the track and clip, Gibson says:

“I captured this video footage while traveling from Oregon to New York on the Empire Builder [train]; so the music video and the song have existed together since their beginnings. At the time, I was moving to New York to attend graduate school. I had known for a while that I needed some sort of change, a new challenge in my life and work.”

“This song captured a moment of utter unknowing, of self-doubt and confliction. The song itself became my means of finding an answer, my way of saying something I couldn’t otherwise express. The first few times I performed 'Empire Builder', I felt almost embarrassed. It seemed too simple, too direct and personal. But it seemed to resonate with people, and more importantly, I felt I had been able to communicate something I had been trying and failing to communicate up until that point. It was the charge, and the anchor that allowed me to make the whole record, which shares its name.”

Empire Builder is released by City Slang on 1 April. It follows 2012 LP La Grande.

Watch the vid for the title track below. Check the album's tracklist after, and Gibson's upcoming UK/EU shows after that.

Tracklist:

1. The Cause
2. Damn Sure
3. Not Harmless
4. Empire Builder
5. Five and Thirty
6. The Search for Dark Lake
7. Two Kids
8. Louis
9. Caldera
10. The Last One

April

22 - BE Brussels - Huis 23@AB
23 - NL Utrecht - Tivoli Vredenburg Cloud
25 - UK Manchester - Soup Kitchen
26 - UK London - Hoxton Bar & Kitchen
27 - FR Paris – Point Ephemere* w/ Grant-Lee Phillips
28 - NL Amsterdam - Tuinzaal, Paradiso Noord
29 - NL Nijmegen - Marienburg Church
30 - BE Gent – Trefpunt

May

1 - BE Lessines - Roots and Roses Festival
2 - DE Berlin - Kantine am Berghain
3 - DE Leipzig - Werk 2
5 - AT Graz – Postgarage
6 - AT Vienna - Haus Der Musik
7 - DE Stuttgart – Laboratorium