Steve Tibbetts, A Man About A Horse

Do you know there are prophets in your midst? Steve Tibbetts is one of the planet’s most inventive electric guitarists, drummers, and tape manipulators—has been for more than 20 years and he makes his home right here in the Twin Cities. We’ve been fans in the wilderness ever since hearing a snippet of Exploded View on Radio K back in the day (1994). That was a stunning collection of overdriven electric guitars woven tightly into a tapestry of traditional tabla and congo drumming. If Hendrix hung out with TVBC, and they did Earl Grey and Ginkgo Biloba all day instead of… well, other drugs that come to mind, this is what might go in your earholes. As the story goes, Tibbetts had a brush with mortality a few years ago when he fell off a ladder and had to have one of his hands rebuilt. Pre-op, he took the opportunity to lay down this new record, full of urgency, big beats, wailing guitars, but also moments of shining ambient serenity. Don’t expect lyrics or anything else remotely linear. These are sound paintings—but emphatically not experiments, which would imply there was something accidental or uncontrolled going on. Tempting to call it New Age Prog Rock—what with his long tenure on the arty German label ECM—but let’s lay off the cheap labels. Just turn off the lights and turn up that stereo you were bragging about 10 years ago. Don’t be afraid to fire up a stick of incense, no one is watching.