CHRIS GIBBS – Little Empires
Label: Noise-A-Thon Records
Released: 2009
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
8.5/10
It’s easy to forget that a lot of great music slips through under the radar. With an exponentially growing world population there is simply more and more quality bands worth listening to!
Chris Gibbs, ex-Kingpin, released this album in 2009 and it’s only just crossed my desk – where, I can tell you, it is doing it’s best to make up for lost time!
Featuring a semi-acoustic approach across these eleven tracks, there is a strong Cheap Trick/Ginger Wildheart presence throughout.
Opener Building An Empire features a cracking Frehleyesque riff and a big fat hook which doesn’t let go, and follow-up Too Pretty For Radio will be a favourite of anyone who has sung along to a Cheap Trick rocker.
Fourth Of July is a mandolin and acoustic guitar driven lament, almost baroque in feel, full of the ever-present melodic hooks that Gibbs can seemingly write in his sleep.
One In The Same contains hints of both Radiohead and John Lennon, while Turning A Dream Into A Nightmare is more atmospheric whilst no less catchy and hummable.
In Hearts Collide Gibbs has crafted a delicate-as-a-rose acoustic ballad. Perfectly co-sung by Jodie Lee Bartlett and Gibbs, this is simply a wonderful song.
Fragile is another heartfelt outpouring of emotion – the kind of song which takes bravery to put out there in the world, baring personal feelings of the rawest nature.
Put simply, Little Empires is a great album by a supremely talented singer/songwriter, and this is the worst kind of best-kept secret – music this good deserves a far wider audience. With Gibbs gearing up to release the debut album from his current outfit Graphic Fiction Heroes, now is a damned fine time to catch up on his past work, which you can do via the new Noise-A-Thon Records website.
http://www.noiseathonrecords.com
http://www.facebook.com/graphicfictionheroes
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Category: CD Reviews