On Sunday, June 8, the Studio Room in the Moab Arts and Recreation Center will be transformed by a Bose sound system with 27 speakers, each radiating 180-degrees, into an artistic-sound space. The community is invited to enter this space for a listening event of the expansive acoustic guitar music from Scott Ibex’s newly released CD, “Horizon Tides.”
“’Horizon Tides’ stands on its own as a distinctively captivating album highlighted by full-bodied compositions which effortlessly blend silence with dynamic sound,” said Randall Davis, a former executive with Capitol Records. “It’s a simply wonderful recording.”
For his fifth CD, Ibex joined forces with award-winning French-Canadian acoustic guitarist Antoine Dufour, who engineered the album.
“Antoine and I were able to really compose accompanying classical music to the solo acoustic guitar,” Ibex said. “It enabled both of us to sculpt the sounds so they were far more beautiful and far more realized.”
“The pairing of Ibex’s finger-style acoustic virtuosity with Dufour’s highly percussive slap harmonics makes Horizon Tides a joyful romp,” said Christy Williams, the program manager and a DJ at local radio station KZMU. “The addition of a synth in the arrangement adds a new wrinkle in Ibex’s mostly solo acoustic expression.”
The concept for Ibex presents a musical journey of the cycle of life and death, rebirth and the soul’s awakening.
“It started when this mantra came to me: If you have the courage to stay the tides and remain focused on the horizon, the future shall always be bright,” Ibex said. “The last record was about gratitude and this album is about holding that vision, not only of gratitude but about happiness in general and remaining happy in your life.”
But as Ibex immersed himself in exploring the way to a happy life, he suddenly had to also face the death of close friend.
“I saw him to be a really happy, satisfied person who did what he loved,” Ibex said of his friend Daniel Moore, who died last year while BASE-jumping in Moab. “He’s a good example of someone who does hold this vision of happiness.”
The impact of Moore’s death prompted Ibex to contemplate the soul’s deeper journey. For understanding, he turned to the ancient Peruvian symbols of sacred animal allies that he said led him through transformation (the serpent), self-realization (the mountain lion), and into higher realms of illumination (the condor).
The progression these animals symbolize is musically expressed on the album in three parts, beginning in “Part I: Lionessence.”
“I took the mountain lion and fused it with the passion that my friend Daniel Moore lived with and that I think everyone should live with,” Ibex said. “I think the more passion you put into life, it gives you a good path to happiness.”
The rhythms and guitar-picking of Part I invoke the brightness of possibilities and the high energy of passions that move people to jump beyond the mundane and, for a few precious seconds, to fly. It is a celebration of the life force.
“In Part II: Through the Belly of the Serpent,” the album launches into what Ibex calls a more spiritual and mystical space, slowing down, becoming more spacious, contemplative. The pace picks up again with “Part III: Unto the Realm of the Condor,” reflecting the uplifting freedom that comes with acceptance.
“It’s the story of how life and how love affect other people, even after someone’s gone, and the power of their spirit,” Ibex said.
Ibex regularly performs all over the U.S. In 2012 he completed two three-month national tours in support of his previous solo acoustic albums, Dragonbreath (February 2012) and Gratitude (August 2012). These tours were highlighted by performances at the prestigious McPherson Opera House and the Casper Events Center. Before moving to Moab in 2012, he completed an eight-month stay as the artist-in-residence of Dorland Mountain Arts Colony in Temecula, Calif.
His album, “Horizon Tides,” will be played in its entirety at the CD release celebration on Sunday, June 8. As well, Ibex will premiere an accompanying music video and recorded interview with him and Dufour.
What: Scott Ibex’s “Horizon Tides” CD-release celebration
When: Sunday, June 8, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Studio Room of the Moab Arts and Recreation Center, 111 E. 100 North
“‘Horizon Tides’ stands on its own as a distinctively captivating album highlighted by full-bodied compositions which effortlessly blend silence with dynamic sound. It’s a simply wonderful recording.”
Album is Scott Ibex’s fifth
