Hmm. In a nutshell, Gibson & Toutant (a couple, but the artist name is unrelated to theirs) play roots-inflected art psychedelic lo-fi stuff. With an emphasis on stuff. These songs have basic structures that are packed to the gills with edgy adornments. Got the picture?

Gibson & Toutant On the Green (Sleepy Cat Records)

Prolly not. Does it help that this is another Durham (N.C.) band? I doubt it. The main thing to understand here is that each song wanders in a different direction than the last--and yet there is plenty of connective tissue as well.

Perhaps it's that Josephine McRobbie and Joe O'Connell seem to have been weaned on Bill Callahan and Marc Ribot, with perhaps mid-80s Mekons for dessert. I still feel like I am not painting this picture remotely accurately, but I must admit to enjoying the attempt.

And maybe that's it. Gibson & Toutant go everywhere and nowhere, and some truly exceptional and unique sounds follow in their wake. This sucker flows so far out of the mainstream (even within the context of its influences) that it can seem to be heading to the edge of the universe. Grounded and experimentally expansive, thit set never fails to entrance.

Jon Worley