It's amazing how one region can create such musical polar opposites. A generation ago, the Pacific Northwest was filled with dark, churning anger (and an abundance of flannel shirts). In 2009, songstress Laura Gibson has used the coastal showers to wash the slate clean and built a sound as majestic as the evergreens.

Her album, "Beasts of Seasons," weaves stories of life, death, and nature into an intricate soundscape, anchored by nylon-stringed guitars, gentle orchestration, and deep percussion. Gibson's dreamlike alto floats in the clouds, keeping watch over the scene below.

Gibson will bring the earthy "Beasts of Seasons" to the concrete floor of Urban Lounge this Friday.

In Utah This Week: The album is driven by images of nature. What is about nature that has such a hold on your writing?

Laura Gibson: I grew up with acres of forest in my backyard, and have since felt a connection with nature (though, I suppose everyone has a natural connection with nature). I am blessed to live in the Northwest, and am always surrounded by trees and fields and bodies of water. Landscapes inevitably find their way into my songs. I suppose if I lived in the desert or in a large city, my songs would have a different feel -- perhaps the same sentiments and natural tendencies, but with a different landscape.

IN: You've referred to the album as having both "communion songs" and "funeral songs." Is there a connection between those two themes?

LG: Yes, these two themes are interconnected. I use the word communion in the sense of connecting with someone/something outside of yourself, of moving beyond yourself. The idea of funeral songs has a sense of finality, and ultimate aloneness. In dancing around the theme of mortality, I noticed myself writing from these two different angles, reaching out for connection, and looking inward and accepting aloneness. The themes are connected in the sense that, when you look inside yourself, you see others, and when you look at those around you, you find yourself. There are things definite, there are endings, but so much of life transcends finality. I wasn't conceptualizing these things while making the record. These are the things I learned from the songs.

IN: How much of a "season beast" was this album for you? Was it a weight off your shoulders when it was completed?

LG: It didn't occur to me when the title first came to me, but this record felt like exactly that. It was the weight of a particular season of my life. Towards the end, I did feel a certain burden. There are some heavy themes throughout the song, and in finishing the last few songs, I started yearning to make a sunny pop record. I'm infinitely thankful that I found the energy and focus to follow through, but I did feel a certain relief when we finished.

IN: A lot of the group musician tracks were recorded live. How did that dynamic affect the album?

LG: We recorded everything on a rickety 16-track tape machine. Because we were limited in tracks, we had to do multiple parts at once. Instead of having horn players come in individually, we invited a group of horn players over and came up with a part together. Instead of tracking singers separately, I invited some friends over to form a little choir. We began most of the tracks with me and my favorite drummer, Rachel Blumberg (or just me and guitar and voice for the drum-less songs). I love recording to tape. There's magic in the urgency of recording things live and I appreciate the limitations.

IN: How do recreate that multi-instrument feel live?

LG: I've been touring with the two greatest fellows in the universe, Sean Ogilvie and Micah Rabwin. We split up the drum-set so that Sean can play keyboard/melodica/ukelin with one hand and a floor tom and cymbal with the other hand. Micah has a kick drum, snare, hi-hat and cymbal, and he can play the kick and hi-hat while playing a banjo. There is a lot of multi-tasking and the dynamic is really fun for me (and fun to watch, I would hope). Of course we can't cover all of the instruments from the record, but we try to embrace our limitations and make the live show something special on its own.

IN: Is there any hope for a future mashup of your song "Where Have All Your Good Words Gone?" and Paula Cole's "Where Have all the Cowboys Gone?"

LG: Wow! I hadn't thought of that. I think a medley is in order.