Steve Tibbetts Natural Causes

Long-awaited and arrestingly different new album from Steve Tibbetts, Zen-guitarist of Minnesota, accompanied by his musical partner of many years, percussionist Marc Anderson. It is a primarily acoustic album, but an unconventional one. Austerity was part of the original plan, "saying more with less", but, not for the first time, Tibbetts would find himself drawn to experiment in the studio. The principal instrument heard on the album is an old Martin 12 string guitar which, as Steve says, has a mellow, aged sound to it. One of the conceptual references for the sound direction was the playing of Indian sarangi (bowed lute) master Sultan Khan. Gamelan-inspired gong cycles, influenced by Tibbetts' travels through Indonesia, are also part of the music, with fine detail also supplied by kalimba and bouzouki.