Laura Gibson is an American folk singer and songwriter. She was raised in C… Read Full Bio ↴Laura Gibson is an American folk singer and songwriter. She was raised in Coquille, Oregon, and is now based in the Portland area.

With themes related to the pacific northwest, Gibson writes songs on a nylon-stringed guitar. In November 2004, she self-released an EP, Amends, produced and engineered by Drew Grow, on a laptop, in a house in Newberg, Oregon. Following this initial release, Laura released her debut full-length in November, 2006 titled If You Come to Greet Me on Hush Records. Engineered by Adam Selzer (Norfolk and Western, M. Ward, The Decemberists) and recorded completely on analog tape, songs on If You Come to Greet Me vary from pieces composed with bare-bones guitar and voice, to an orchestra of trumpets, piano, vibraphone, saw, violin, cello, banjo and found sounds. Songs have described as, "haunting portraits of nostalgia and intimacy, of loneliness and wide-eyed hope".

The La Grande Songfacts reports that Laura Gibson's fifth album is titled after La Grande, a small town situated in the forests of the Pacific Northwest where she parked her trailer and wrote and recorded the ten tracks that make up the record. It was released in January 2012.

Gibson's latest album Empire Builder was released April 1st, 2016 on Barsuk Records / City Slang.

Postures Bent
Laura Gibson Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

All our
Days have
Falling, spin

Tatter, ringing
Wooden sheds
Lining up in perfect rows

Our postures bent
Oh, mine and yours

All the
Leaders
Seasons change
Burning in our cartons
Singing stories in our ears
Pulling, pulling at our wills

When we
Burn our candles down
Gather our, unions songs

Faces white with paper, reed
Loving in our frail tears

Overall Meaning

Laura Gibson's song "Postures Bent" is a poetic exploration of the cyclical nature of life and death, and the complex emotions and experiences that come with it. The lyrics paint a vivid picture of a world in which days fall quickly and time spins out of control, leaving us disconnected and out of touch with ourselves and with each other. Wooden sheds line up in perfect rows, a symbol of the artificial and confining structures we create to protect ourselves from the chaos of the world around us.

Against this backdrop of chaos, there are our postures bent - a reference to the ways in which we physically and emotionally contort ourselves in order to fit into the world. These postures are not just about physical positioning, but also about the ways in which we hide our true selves in order to be accepted or loved by others.

As the cycles of life and death continue, seasons change and leaders come and go. Burning in our cartons and singing stories in our ears, we are pulled in different directions and our wills are tested. When we eventually burn our candles down and gather together to sing union songs, our faces are white with paper reed and we are left to love in our frail tears.

Overall, "Postures Bent" is a deeply introspective and thought-provoking song that invites listeners to reflect on their own experiences with life, death, and the complexities of human emotion.

Line by Line Meaning

All our
All of our

Days have
The passing of time affects us all

Falling, spin
Time is fleeting and constantly in motion

Tatter, ringing
The wear and tear of life, both physical and emotional

Wooden sheds
Simple structures that represent our basic needs

Lining up in perfect rows
The order and uniformity of life

Our postures bent
The toll that life takes on our bodies and minds

Oh, mine and yours
Both individuals are affected by the challenges of life

All the
Each and every one of the

Leaders
Those in positions of power

Seasons change
The passing of time affects not only individuals, but also the world around us