By Martin Longley | Published January 2026
Recording in St. Paul, Minnesota, guitarist Steve Tibbetts has produced his 11th album for ECM, inviting drummer-percussionists Marc Anderson and JT Bates to the sessions. Most of the compositions are divided into sub-tracks, lending a suite-like feel to this sonic tale-spinning. The mood is fairly constant throughout, involving a spacious
contemplation that evokes a haunted landscape feeling.
Tibbetts pairs his acoustic guitars (six- and 12-strings) with his more volatile electric, matching them in ways that most practitioners wouldn’t conceive, weaving them into an electroacoustic oneness. He also adds occasional piano. The title surely refers to “proximity” rather than “finishing,” as the acoustic strings are miked as absolutely close as possible, even as the electric strings rear up in the opposite direction, forming a huge skyward canopy.
It’s remarkable that Tibbetts settles these two forces into a dark harmony, surrounded by the biggest drum sounds possible, resonant with horizon-stretching bassiness. A frame drum can sound like a thunder-rumble. Intimacy co-exists with far vistas. Tranquility is attained, although Tibbetts ignites his electric engine, as a swooping beast, ascending and descending in turn. There is a very slow groove, but it remains a groove, nevertheless. We hear fingers rubbing massively, ambient guitar body creaks, these sounds becoming part of the ambiance. The heavy Tibbetts behemoth electric is contained within a controlled environment, blending grandeur and inner peace.
