Tim Gibbons – Top Hat

Tim’s album is recorded, mixed and mastered and we’re just waiting for some finished artwork. So we’ll have it available for sale in the next month or so. It’s been a real pleasure working with and getting to know his songs. I love working with people whose songs become more intricate and detailed the more one listens. Being in charge of all of the production duties on an album project (producing, engineering and mixing) can be, at times, a very tedious job. One has to listen to each song scores of times as they make the journey from demo to finished master and it’s the rare set of songs that can stand up to that much repeated listening and scrutiny. Tim has such a natural way of writing and singing that he leaves the listener leaning a bit further into the song each time through. One hears a line, deciphers it and then does an auditory equivalent of a double-take as the imagery of the line takes hold.

Here’s a sampling of a couple of verses from some of Tim’s songs; from the weary road song Deal (Had this gal drank Balantines / she would punch me up the head / making love through hangovers / ’till she said I felt dead / Her deal was the regular life / my deal it drove truck / now razorblades won’t bring her back aww thas jes my luck); the impossibly beautiful Medicine Girl (Sad songs on the radio / thinking bout ya baby so far from home / wonder if you’re listening or talking on the phone to another guy / did he leave you dry? like a blister across the sky / the night coming on I’m gonna tell you why / put the weight on me was such a sad song / You’re my medicine girl / I’ll set you free if that’s what you want); and the dark, brooding High Treason (I’ll fly away tonight and skip through all the tanglin’ / I’ll cast away sweet memory / all that’s left inside is the feeling i’m left dangling from some lonesome hanging tree / High treason, a seasons obsession haunting you)

And how about this gem from Top Hat: She leaned back and her face appeared / her cigarette glowed in a dusty mirror / she said all her deeds were still born / leaning on a fire escape waiting on the dawn. Take a listen to the finished song:

Here’s an earlier blog about Tim, in case you missed it: