Sean Shibe - Camino | Erica Jeal's classical album of the week

The Guardian 0

(Pentatone)
Shibe’s playing buzzes with vitality in this revelatory new recording

You might think you know what Spanish guitar music sounds like, and you might think it an unexpectedly middle-of-the-road choice for Sean Shibe, who has always appeared more at home in programmes that set your ears slightly off-kilter: for example, juxtaposing whispering lute music with screaming electric guitar works by Julia Wolfe, as on his 2018 album softLOUD. But there’s nothing hackneyed about Camino. It’s a beautifully intimate recording, full of playing that is as far from classical-guitar cliche as a real flamenco dancer is from a postcard of a donkey in a sombrero.

Related: Sean Shibe review – a nonchalant virtuoso and boundary breaker