“Classical guitarist Sean Shibe stitches unlikely connections between disparate composers by way of a Mexican Stratocaster.”
– Tom Huizenga
“Lost & Found“, performed by Sean Shibe, has been featured as one of The 10 Best Classical Albums of 2022 by NPR.
“The mild-mannered, conservatory-educated classical guitarist from Scotland possesses an untamed imagination, a sharp ear for curation and an extraordinary technique. That he’s clad in a pink tulle dress on the album cover might be a wink at William Blake, whose metaphysical poetry and painting play loosely with disguise, and whom Shibe describes in the album booklet as “a radical looking for the revelatory.
What’s “lost” here is Shibe’s traditional nylon-string classical guitar; what’s found is the black Mexican Stratocaster on which he plays most of the diverse music on this recording. Repertoire-wise, strange bedfellows have rarely sounded so good together: Shibe sets music by Moondog against Bill Evans (a heavenly version of “Peace Piece”), while Olivier Messiaen and Meredith Monk lie down with Julius Eastman and the medieval mystic Hildegard von Bingen. Shibe can shred, but more often he makes the instrument as featherlight as an angel’s wing.”
“Piece Piece“, a track from the same album has been selected as one of The Best Songs of 2022.
“While Shibe can fire up plenty of fuzz and feedback on his album Lost & Found, more often he coaxes diaphanous, colorful ribbons of sound from his instrument. An elegant example is a cover of Bill Evans’ “Peace Piece,” where an electric guitar has rarely sounded so featherlight.“
– Tom Huizenga
