Exploded View–Guitar Player, 3/87

New age music this is not. Though it shares many adjectives with the musical-wallpaper genre (impressionistic, evocative), Tibbetts' brand of instrumental music is much too intelligent and passionate for the catch-all category. It also compares favorably with Pat Metheny's more unstructured works, such as As Falls Wichita.  

Tibbetts, on electric and acoustic guitars and tapes, and percussionist Marc Anderson are responsible for most of the sonic barrage--there are also a few cameos on bass, tablas, and voices--that weaves through two sides, running the emotional gamut from serene to violent, always intense. This is truly unclassifiable, but then, it's not searching for a compartment.