“Vivid, vibrant and exuberant virtuosity… chameleon-like, the electric guitar slips in and out of camouflage, blending with the orchestra then standing apart, and creating new sonorities. Guitar and muted trumpets wah-wah together; high pinprick notes merge into high violin glitter…”

“Plenty of guitarists had proved the acoustic instrument could reach beyond its classical soundworld; some, like the jazz guitarist Pat Metheny, have made a compelling case for its amplified sister. But until Shibe no one was doing both. As well as electric guitar he is capable of performing the most light-fingered work from the baroque era.”

“When tenor Karim Sulayman and guitarist Sean Shibe finished their first selection in their riveting recital Thursday night at the Albany Institute of History and Art, the capacity audience seemed reluctant to break the spell with applause. Tenderness and integrity characterized the entire one-hour program.”

“Shibe’s own arrangement of Julius Eastman’s Buddha […] was the final reinforcement of this musician’s creative imagination.”

“Shibe took us on a journey from the grotesque through melancholy to an ambiguous calm and performed […] with an introspection so powerful it left the audience in rapt silence after the final notes.”

“Another bonkers-at-first-glance, brilliantly curated album from the guitarist Sean Shibe.”

“The best ever Bach recording of [guitar] … There seems to be no limit to Shibe’s characterful melodic instincts, with flourishes of rolling arpeggiations, exquisite harmonic placements and all kinds of textural delights. … the most interesting voice on the guitar for a generation”

“All this perfectly suits Shibe’s great gift for painting notes in what seems a thousand colours, with multiple dynamic shadings en route. ..there are exquisite and tender sounds everywhere you look”

“Shibe’s ability to command a wide dynamic range within a relatively restricted compass naturally comes to the fore. .. a release that considerably enhances Shibe’s reputation for having one of the most discriminating ears in the business.”

“The greatest performers always push the boundaries, and that 28-year-old Sean Shibe […] is already in their select company. The spell, as always with Shibe, was total; no other guitarist that I know of is working at this artistic level.”

“SoftLOUD is a gripping recital from guitarist Sean Shibe, dealing in extremes – I suspect his beautifully touched-in accounts of pieces from 17^th-century Scottish manuscripts will get more living-room plays than Julia Wolfe’s LAD, an abrasive electric-guitar scream originally conceived for nine bagpipes. In between, he also supplies a definitive performance of Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint.”

“A word of warning: in these desolate stretches, Sean Shibe may steal your heart with his guitar solo.”