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.

Wintering
Laura Gibson Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

In the coming days
I may take to flight
Circling the trees
Like a bird bound south
Always fall back down
On my lazy wings
To the frozen ground
To my apathy

Just as sure as the days go short
Somehow we're always waiting

In the coming days
Don't you be surprised
If i hibernate
If i hide my eyes
If you find me down
Some dark hideaway
We could wait around
Could watch the shadows change

And just as sure as the days grow short
Somehow we're always waiting

So i may call you up
And i may be inclined
To get drunk on words
To be short on time

And just as sure as the days grow short
Somehow we're always waiting

Overall Meaning

Laura Gibson's "Wintering" is a song that captures the feeling of being stuck in a cold and dark winter. The lyrics of the song suggest a sense of melancholy and lack of motivation to do much, as if the dreary weather has taken its toll on the singer. To escape the harshness of reality, the singer contemplates taking flight and circling the trees with the birds heading south. However, she always falls back down to the ground and her apathy. The recurring theme in the song is the inevitability of waiting as the days grow shorter and darker.

The singer hints at the possibility of hibernating and hiding away from the world. She expresses a desire to watch the shadows change and wait around, avoiding any active pursuit of anything else. This further highlights the feeling of being stuck in a rut and waiting for a change that may never come.

The final verse suggests the singer's inclination to seek solace in words and needing to rely on the support of others. She anticipates that she may be short on time, hinting at an urgency in her desire to connect with others.

Overall, "Wintering" is a poignant reflection of the weariness that comes with the cold winter months. It captures the feeling of waiting for a change, but also the recognition that it may not come easy.

Line by Line Meaning

In the coming days
In the near future

I may take to flight
I may leave suddenly

Circling the trees
Flying around the trees

Like a bird bound south
Like a bird flying down to the south

Always fall back down
Always go back down

On my lazy wings
Using my slow wings

To the frozen ground
To the icy ground

To my apathy
To my lack of interest or enthusiasm

Just as sure as the days go short
As certain as the days becoming shorter

Somehow we're always waiting
Somehow we are always anticipating

Don't you be surprised
Do not be shocked