Laura Gibson is an Oregon born singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist currently living in New York City, where she is completing an MFA in Fiction Writing at Hunter College. Gibson currently records for the US Independent Label Barsuk Records, and the Berlin-based label City Slang. Gibson's new album "Empire Builder" was released April 1, 2016. 　　In 2015, Gibson was principal composer and lyricist for Up the Fall, a musical production created for performers with developmental disabilities, for the Portland-based Non-Profit PHAME Academy. She has also collaborated with Oregon Ballet Theater and Portland Playhouse. 　　March 26, 2015 Gibson’s Manhattan apartment was destroyed in a gas explosion which killed two people. Gibson was home at the time of the explosion but escaped unharmed. A recovery fund, established by friends and fans, raised several thousand dollars. 　　Gibson is a graduate of Linfield College where she completed pre-medicine requirements and competed for the Women’s basketball and Track and Field teams.