Laura Gibson: Empire Builder: not uplifting but something very worth listening to

From mishaps and tragedies come unasked-for revelations, and if

Empire Builder

– the fourth album from US singer-songwriter Laura Gibson – isn’t the resulting expression of inexplicable bad luck, then it’s surely bastard fate coming home to roost.

Either way, life sucks. Broken limbs, gas explosions, the fracturing of family bonds, the severing of relationships, the destruction of instruments, works of fiction, intimate diaries and songwriting notebooks – Gibson certainly had material for an album. Assisted by musicians Dave Depper (Death Cab for Cutie), Dan Hunt (Neko Case), Peter Broderick and Alela Diane, Gibson tackles topics such as solitude and disconnection, emotional rescue and personal loss.

Uplifting? God, no, but Gibson has a way of converting dread into something very much worth listening to.