Northern Song (Remastered) Steve Tibbetts

• 1 The Big Wind 08:12
• 2 Form 07:13
• 3 Walking 06:29
• 4 Aerial View 04:17
• 5 Nine Doors / Breathing Space 21:01
• Total Runtime 47:12

Info for Northern Song (Remastered)

With Nothern Song, Steve Tibbetts made his ECM debut and introduced listeners to what remains one of the label’s most enchanting, if slowly unfolding, maps. The cover seems to tell us everything: silhouettes of islands superimposed on the journey that takes us to them, as if the dream of arrival were potent enough to burn itself across the rearview mirror of our lives. Tibbetts leaves a trail of quiet footprints easily obscured by “The Big Wind,” yet whose direction is not so easily forgotten. With circumpolar affinity and a sensitivity that is for all intents historical, Tibbetts traces the borders of our lives in “Form.” His shimmering guitar finds spirit in Marc Anderson’s verdant whispers. “Walking” continues in very much the same vein, only this time with a more pronounced wash of 12-string steel that eventually lifts us into an “Aerial View.” And because so much of the Northern Song experience is above ground, we are able to slip more intensely into the meditations of “Nine Doors / Breathing Space,” throughout which strings creak like an old house, if not an old body.

Tibbetts lavishes his instruments with respect, strumming them as he might harps of glacial light. In them we hear diaries, voices, and ideas that need never completed to say everything they need to say. And every delicate application of Anderson’s percussion carries us deeper into the overgrowth before we emerge, forever changed, in the dwindling sunlight. This album is an ocean, and we the birds who range its waters.

Steve Tibbetts, guitars, kalimba, tape loops
Marc Anderson, congas, bongos, percussion

Recorded October 26-28, 1981, Talent Studio, Oslo
Produced by Manfred Eicher

Digitally remastered

Steve Tibbetts
a Minneapolis-based American guitarist, is known for his unique approach to sound-forming and composition. He was born in Madison in Wisconsin in 1954. He was in college when his first two records were made. Although Yr was self-published, it gained some attention, particularly from electric guitar fans. The record had many overdubs. One track could have as many as 50, creating a unique soundscape. Steve Tibbetts, like Brian Eno and other artists, views the recording studio a tool to create sounds. He often works and reworks the sounds he finds, incorporating them into musical tracks. (e.g. the footsteps on Safe Journey’s track “Running”, or the chanting from Nepalese villagers on Big Map Idea’s last tracks). In 1982, Tibbetts made Northern Song for ECM Records. This was an attempt by Tibbetts to be able to record his music in Manfred Eicher’s very fast recording style. ECM albums usually take two days to record. Northern Song received harsh reviews. Tibbetts returned to his old method of recording slowly over several months (or more). Manfred Eicher did not produce his subsequent records. However, they received better reviews. Steve Tibbetts can play acoustic or electric guitars as well as the kalimba. His musical compositions cover many genres and styles, including jazz, rock, fusion and new age. Often, a single composition may contain more than one style or genre. Five albums were released in the 1980s; three in 1990; and two in 2000. Other artists he has collaborated with include Knut Hamre, a Norwegian hardingfele musician, and Choying Drolma, a Tibetan nun. Marc Anderson, Steve’s long-time collaborator, is featured on all of the discography recordings, except for the “Steve Tibbetts.” album. You can purchase a CD-Rom containing a variety of sound textures and loops by Steve Tibbetts. In the middle of the 1980s, Steve Tibbetts stopped performing live. He began to travel extensively in Nepal in the late 1980s, where he met Choying Drolma (a Tibbetan Buddhist nun). Although Cho was not meant to be a commercial recording, it was released and received some positive reviews. Selwa, the second collaboration, was more thoughtfully considered and received very positive reviews. It is an example of a successful meeting between two musical traditions. (Creative Commons By–SA License.)

This album contains no booklet.