By Deuce

“Morgantown”, the latest single from Geoff Gibbons, which dropped last month not too long after the celebrated solar eclipse, is one of those numbers that dares the listener to practice active listening. Specifically, running through it is an exercise in determining just how long can you go without putting your head, and maybe the rest of your body too, into the track?

Such positive feedback elicited by the song will become palpable, this reviewer predicts, by no later than the second hook. The track brims with excellence, from its sparkling clean acoustic guitars (which open up the number), to the lush, plush percussion that keeps the drumming notable for the duration of this affair. Rich and full, the latter accentuates the shiny, picturesque energy evoked by the lyrics and its melding with the music, conjuring scenes of verdure, impassioned evenings and, perhaps, a lonely hamlet where it all takes place.

Quite simply, this is one of those songs that gets better not the more times one listens to it, but rather the longer one listens to it. Those acoustic guitars are floating along dandily at the outset of the number, with the percussions begging you to come on in and take a closer look. Plus, Gibbons knows a thing or two about lyrical substance, detailing remembrances of “a pair of aces: I was hearts, you were spades”. Such a predilection for blending the poetic with the practical typifies the lyrical experience of the singer-songwriter on this number.

Nonetheless, the instrumentality displayed is more than capable of keeping pace, if not setting it. There are passages when some sort of organ (or perhaps synth) touches down with the type of track work that provides a rising action to the narration—and the music. At other times, something that must be some sort of real stringed instrument, possibly a violin, comes in soaring high notes, catapulting the listener, the singing, and the rest of the instruments to somewhere yonder.

Plus, there very well could be a young lady chiming in on high notes for the background vocals. All of this occurs, of course, prior to a downright bluesy guitar solo near the end that keeps the musician in great stead—and does the same for his listeners.