He Arrived By Helicopter – The Shiny Hostel
10.18.18 by Ryan Masteller

Christian Gibbs has arrived. By helicopter? That’s for us to determine.

Christian Gibbs has undoubtedly arrived, and whether he drops down onto the deck of an aircraft carrier by whirlybird and proudly stands in front of a cheering throng while a “Mission Accomplished” banner flaps in the breeze behind him is unimportant. The fact is that his work here is done – it doesn’t matter how we celebrate it. … Or, actually it does, since this is the Tabs Out website, anyway – we are required by the site’s bylaws to celebrate any accomplishment with a cassette release.

Christian Gibbs has released such a cassette, one that celebrates the recording of his many musics over the course of a period of time that undoubtedly required much hard work. It is encouraging then that I can report with a glad heart that the “much hard work” was energy well expended: “The Shiny Hostel” is a triumph – that’s MORE than an accomplishment – of arranging, songwriting, and recording prowess that results in one of the most listenable “band”-based releases I’ve heard in quite some time. No, I will NOT elaborate on how long of a time.

Alternating between instrumental tracks and those with vocals, Gibbs takes the chance of annoying me (and only me) by singing words, because you all should know by now that a bad lyric or a unpalatable singing voice (again, only to me) can ruin the crap out of a record. He does NOT annoy me in any way. Did you see the “Mission Accomplished” banner? You don’t get one of those if you can’t sing. Anyway, the instrumentals are intensely inventive and endlessly entertaining, building, pulling back, swelling, all of them filled to the brim with melodic detail. That spills over into the songs with all the words, where Gibbs shifts from an angelic falsetto to a crooning baritone – this is what late-period Frank Black should’ve sounded like.

Now I can fantasize that Christian Gibbs is late-period Frank Black. Maybe I can get a refund on those “Dog in the Sand” concert tickets, too?

So Christian Gibbs has indeed arrived, BY HELICOPTER, ready to charm us sky high. You can buy one of these cassettes from Very Special Recordings, or you can buy one of the lovely green LPs… Gggrrrkkk! [*is choked by official Tabs Out bouncer for mentioning a format other than cassette*]