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Minnesota guitarist Steve Tibbetts has long been one of my musical heroes, not only because of his musical talents, which are many, but because of his friendly spirit and his willingness to reach out and find musical treasures and then bring those treasures to light by making wonderful recordings of them. This CD came to me along with a little note that said "Dear Karl--Here's my latest CD. Rykodisc isn't sure what to do with this one. They like it, but they're a little unsure about marketing strategies... Thanks a lot. I appreciate your keeping me on your mailing list. I read each and every issue [of The $ensible Sound -KWN]. I think I may have bought my last set of speakers, however. This CD would be a cool-sounding vinyl thing, and I'm not even an analog purist."

Knut Hamre is a master of the Hardingfele, which Tibbetts explains is a Norwegian fiddle that has sympathetic (drone) strings under the fingerboard. The drone strings help give it a rich and resonant tone, and for the on-site recording sessions in Norway, Tibbetts used one microphone close to the instruments and another about 20 feet away in the Utne church where he recorded Knut Hamre and fellow Hardingfele player Turid Spildo. Tibbetts explains that he and percussionist Marc Anderson would play for a while with Knut and Turid, setting a mood, and then when the spirit hit, Knut and Turid would play while the tapes rolled.

Tibbetts then brought the tapes of the Hardingfele back to his studio in Minnesota, where he played with them and added in parts featuring Marc Anderson on percussion (Tibbetts told me with a laugh in his voice that Marc brought in to the studio one day a really ugly bass drum that he had found in a dumpster somewhere--it wound up sounding great and adding a nice punch to the bottom end of the mix) and Anthony Cox on bass, plus some supporting work from Emily Khorana on cello, Karl Ackerman on violin, Amy Moron on viola, John Siegfried on harp and contrabass, Steve Hassett on psaltery, and Ray Gilles on jublan and suling. Tibbetts put this all together using "creative razorblading" techniques, and the end result is this wonderful recording.

The music is haunting--sometimes earthy, sometimes ethereal, but always plaintive and haunting. The sound of the Hardingfele is always at the center, but it is joined and augmented by the sounds of the other instruments and sometimes by the voice of Turid Spildo. It is music not quite like anything you have ever heard before, but it does not sound strange or exotic. It seems to be music from deep inside the soul, or deep inside the earth. Interestingly enough, Tibbetts reports that Hardingfele music is not all that popular in Norway. Knut Hamre told him, in fact, that there is an old Norwegian saying that goes something like, "the only exercise my father ever got was leaping across the room to shut off the radio when Hardingfele music came on." Tibbetts tell me that they he plans to tour with Knut one of these days, playing this music, "even in Norway--where they hate it! That should be interesting..."

Maybe it's because I'm not Norwegian (although I am one-fourth Swedish, if that counts for anything), but I find this music to be quite enjoyable, although maybe that is partly because of what Steve Tibbetts and his musical razor blade have wrought. This is by all means not an archival recording of indigenous unadulterated Norwegian folk fiddling, it is a rich musical tapestry informed by traditional Hardingfele music and then transformed by the musical and acoustical vision of Steve Tibbetts and the musical and acoustical contributions of his band of merry Minnesota musical mavens into something that music lovers should adore and audiophiles should swoon over.

In the end, all I can tell you is that this CD is a cool-sounding polycarbonate/aluminum thing.

Steve Tibbetts is impossible to pigeonhole. This is a good thing for the adventurous music listener. Part of my joy of listening to Steve Tibbetts over the last twenty five years is listening to his latest release for the very first time. You simply never know what to expect with a Tibbetts release...it could be as electric and raw as Exploded View, as achingly subtle as Northern Song, or an interesting mix of the two such as A Man About A Horse. When a musician as diverse and complex as Tibbetts collaborates with another, the end result is at once familiar and foreign, as in the case with Cho and Selwa.

I bought this CD years ago without previewing a note. All I knew is Steve had released another CD, and that was all I needed to know. I'm indebted to him for completely transforming my definition of what music is. I'd certainly never heard of a hardingfele before this CD, let alone heard what one sounded like. Once again, Steve turned me on to something completely foreign and made it familiar.

This CD, like most of Tibbetts' releases, is strong in visual imagery. The hypnotic drone of the hardingfele couples with Steve's guitar work and the minimalist approach to percussion to create luscious mental pictures of very, very cold places, yet incredibly beautiful; crystalline mountain peaks with a bonfire in the valley below. The music is simultaneously warm and melancholy, giving the same feelings as a warm cabin in the middle of nowhere...comfortable in its loneliness.

I only play this CD in the winter, when it's cold and snowy outside. When I am able to smell the wood from a fireplace as the New England air chills my face, this is the soundtrack.

Sean K.

3 1/2


Some repetitious textures, particularly on Hamre's part, cannot inherently diminish the expansive minimalism's intoxicating allure.

Each "song" on this record sounds just like the previous one. And they don't sound that good. Now, I am a huge fan of Steve Tibbetts. YR, Safe Journey, Exploded View, these are all fanatastic recordings filled with beauty and wonder. However, this record is dull and boring. Not "good dull" like "Northern Song", which is a subtle, mysterious "ambient" record.

Bottom line: when ECM releases a lot of records by an artist, then fails to release a new record by that same artist, there is reason to worry. (This record was released by Hanibal Records, all previous Tibbetts records have been released on ECM, with the exception of last year's "Cho").

Does Manfred Eicher (the founder and head of ECM records) have good taste in music? In a word: YES. After all, its not the case that ECM is in this business because they make tons of cash...

In case you wonder why I say this, the most recent record from Stephan Micus (Beyond 11 Deserts) is similar to this record: not good, and not released by ECM records.

Long ago I used to listen to Steve Tibbetts albums. Now I listen to his CD's. But this particular duet is missing something. It's not bad. It's very restful and relaxing. Yet most Tibbetts music has a dynamic quality: some pieces wind you up, and some relax you. This entire album relaxes to the point where you may start to wonder: how are the musicians staying awake? But if you are a serious Tibbetts fan, it's worth having.