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ミネソタ出身のギタリスト、Steve TibbettsのECMからの11枚目。

このアルバムで、自身が断言する「音楽は黄昏の言語だ。そして私の仕事は、影を音に変換すること」という探求を本作で再開。
重なり合うループとドローン、そして暗く轟くパーカッションの上に、切ない即興のメロディをゆっくりと展開。歪んだエレキギターやきらめく12弦アコースティックギターといった音色がこの音楽を西の音楽たらしめている一方で、その漸進的でほとんど催眠的な展開は、東洋との親和性を示唆し続けている。「私は今もスルタン・カーンの喚起的な音を求めている」とチベッツは語る。彼の主要な影響源の一つである、故インドのサランギの巨匠についてそう述べたのである。
きらめく星々の野原に照らされた、見捨てられたブランコの印象的なジャケット・イメージは、アルバムの音楽を象徴する魅力的な視覚的メタファーとなっている。

Close is guitarist Steve Tibbetts first studio album in seven years. From the very beginning hes mapped out a distinctly individual, idiosyncratic approach in melding jazz, psychedelic rock, world musics, folk music, and technologies. After two independent releases -- including Yr -- he signed with ECM and in 1982 issued the unfairly criticized ambient guitar masterpiece Northern Song using acoustic guitars, kalimba, tape loops, and Marc Andersons organic percussion. Since then, hes continued to weave sonic skyscapes by threading electric and acoustic music on groundbreaking titles that include Exploded View, Big Map Idea, the iconic Cho in collaboration with Tibetan Buddhist nun Choying Drolma, and 2018s Life Of. Close seemingly springs directly from Northern Song yet embraces the sounds, rhythms, spaces, and textures of his entire career. It is easily Tibbettss most intimate outing. Accompanied by Anderson and drummer JT Bates, the guitarist delivers three multi-part cuts as well as several thematically related tracks. In an essay, he states that, "Music is as close to magic as we mortals have ... Music is a twilight language. The job is to translate some shadow into sound." Thats exactly what happens across these 20 tracks. The three-part opener "We Begin" clocks in at 11 minutes. The brief first section offers deep sound opening the atmosphere. "Part 2" uses the original drone effect to create a sonorous wonderland of sinuous, amplified 12-string guitar amid trancelike, looped, atmospheric hand percussion. "Part 3" emerges with the original drone opening onto a speculative guitar song that reflects mystery in its gradual exposition. The tripartite "Away" uses similar motifs, but in a nearly song-like construction with bleeding acoustic guitars, hovering percussion, and space. The two-part "Remember" uses gently overdubbed guitar parts and frames a melody that never quite emerges; its supported by restrained percussion. The ten-minute second section uses distorted guitars and amplification atop fat hand drums and cymbals as Tibbetts explores a labyrinth with long, bent string utterances. The economical, dreamy "Somewhere" introduces more rhythmic and dynamic complexity. Its reliance on droning psych and distortion is maximized as drums frame the sound of his amp exploding after 4:06 in the third section amid his loping modal melodies. It sets up the interlude "Anywhere" played on deeply resonant acoustic guitar with a barely whispering piano and bassline. In turn, it introduces the five-part, 11-plus-minute "Everywhere" wherein loops, drums, and layered, detailed, distorted abstraction are cradled together. "Remember And," and "Remember and Wish" are hushed guitar pieces evoking a bygone spirit in the gently abstracted ether. In 93 seconds, closer "We End" signifies that there are no real endings; the album, and the stories and sounds it carries, could easily commence in a rounded loop that opens its creative circle wider. Close is (mostly) gentle in its sophisticated, meditative articulation. That said, the taut rumbling drums and barely restrained distortion in places lets the listener know that this set based in reverie could just have easily roared. ~ Thom Jurek