Guitarist and composer Steve Tibbetts unveils Close, his eleventh release on the storied ECM label — a spellbinding continuation of his lifelong dialogue between texture, tone, and transcendence. The Minnesota-based artist resumes his exploration of 12-string and electric guitar, weaving layered loops and drones with the immersive percussion of longtime collaborators Marc Anderson and JT Bates.
Close is available today on digital platforms via ECM, with CD editions arriving in the US on December 4, 2025 — including a limited run of autographed copies for collectors and fans.
Critics have already been deeply moved by Tibbetts’ latest work:
“Close is like a dark Rothko painting on fire. The love of life, the losses. Honestly, this album breaks my heart.” — Flowworker.org
“Close takes us on the kind of enigmatic but enticing journey we’ve come to expect from Tibbetts: strange and beautiful.” — The Big Takeover
In his own words, Tibbetts reflects on his creative process with characteristic humility and wonder:
“Music is as close to magic as we mortals have. Musicians do revel in being thought of as wizards or shamans or conduits or vessels or prophets. News flash: we have no idea what we’re doing. Music is a twilight language. The job is to translate shadow into sound.”
That philosophy runs through every moment of Close. The record captures an unguarded intimacy — breaths, fretboard noises, and all. As percussionist Marc Anderson told Tibbetts during the recording:
“Don’t change it. Yes, I can hear you breathing. Yes, I hear the fretboard sounds. You’re playing with a lot of force and it sounds like you need to.”
Tibbetts’ unique approach to guitar tunings — dropping his low A and E strings to G and C — anchors much of the album in a single tonal space, a choice influenced by his deep connection to gamelan ensembles, Tibetan longhorns, Javanese court music, and the Hardanger fiddle traditions of Norway. “Most of the world’s music stays in the same key,” he notes, “and I’m comfortable with that.”
On Close, Tibbetts seems less concerned with achieving sonic perfection and more with evoking a sense of lived experience — of loss, presence, and persistence. As he puts it simply, “I am still reaching for the evocative sound of Sultan Khan.”
A deeply personal, transcendent work, Close stands as both a culmination and a renewal — an artist still exploring the edges of mystery through sound.
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