Under A Mediterranean Sky

‘Under A Mediterranean Sky’ is the first new acoustic solo album from legendary guitarist Steve Hackett, since 2008’s ‘Tribute’ – a record that saw him tackling some of the beautiful classical pieces that his guitar idols had also put their hand to. This new album however takes inspiration from Steve’s extensive travels around the Mediterranean. “A lot of acoustic ideas had been forming over the years, and it felt like the perfect time to create this album,” notes Hackett, “a time to contemplate the places we’ve visited around the Mediterranean with the kind of music which evolved from the world of imagination.” ‘Under The Mediterranean Sky’ lacks nothing of the grandiosity of Steve Hackett’s recent solo electric records, however it does give room to the stunning breadth of approach that he has to playing his acoustic guitar, reminding us once again why Steve is such a revered and respected musician.

The album will be available as a Limited CD Digipak, Gatefold 2LP + CD + LP-booklet (with etching on Side D) & as Digital Album.

‘Under A Mediterranean Sky’ is the first new acoustic solo album from legendary guitarist Steve Hackett, since 2008’s ‘Tribute’ – a record that saw him tackling some of the beautiful classical pieces that his guitar idols had also put their hand to. This new album however takes inspiration from Steve’s extensive travels around the Mediterranean. “A lot of acoustic ideas had been forming over the years, and it felt like the perfect time to create this album,” notes Hackett, “a time to contemplate the places we’ve visited around the Mediterranean with the kind of music which evolved from the world of imagination.”

The current state of the world, and the pandemic currently unfolding are unavoidable, and it seems almost obvious that in a situation where touring with a full band is impossible, Steve would take his hand to something more contemplative. That’s not to say the album doesn’t feature its fair share of collaborators, with Hackett working alongside long-time musical partner Roger King who took on the recording and mixing duties as well as keyboards, programming and orchestrating (“Roger and I recorded together, at a social distance in a well ventilated room!”).

Steve elaborates: “This album involves Rob Townsend on sax, Christine Townsend (no relation!) on violin and viola, Malik Mansurov on tar, Arsen Petrosyan on duduk and John Hackett on flute along with myself on nylon, steel string and twelve string guitars, charango and Iraqi oud.” It is this more ethnic instrumentation that sets this album apart from his other classical projects: “This all expanded the acoustic palate and it was exciting to weave everything in together. They’re all fantastic musicians.”

‘Under The Mediterranean Sky’ lacks nothing of the grandiosity of Steve Hackett’s recent solo electric records, however it does give room to the stunning breadth of approach that he has to playing his acoustic guitar, reminding us once again why Steve is such a revered and respected musician.

About Steve Hackett:

Steve Hackett joined Genesis at the beginning of 1971 and gained an international reputation as the guitarist in the band’s classic line-up alongside Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins. Steve’s intricate guitar work was a key element of Genesis’ albums from Nursery Cryme (1971) to Wind And Wuthering (1977) including the classic Selling England By The Pound. After leaving Genesis at the end of 1977, Steve’s solo career, which now spans more than 30 albums, has demonstrated his extraordinary versatility with both electric and acoustic guitar. Steve is renowned as both an immensely talented and innovative rock musician and a virtuoso classical guitarist and composer and this was recognised in 2010 when he was inducted into the Rock Hall Of Fame. He has also worked alongside Steve Howe of YES in the supergroup GTR. Steve’s compositions take influences from many genres, including jazz, classical and blues. For his later studio works The Night Siren (2017) and At The Edge Of Light (2019) Steve has explored the influences of world music. Recent tours have seen Steve celebrate his time with Genesis including a spectacular 2018 tour in which Steve realised a long-held ambition to perform the works of Genesis live with his band and an orchestra. He recently released ‘Sellling England by the Pound & Spectral Mornings: Live at Hammersmith’, a live recording of his hugely successful 2019 tour that saw him celebrating that Genesis classic, as well as the 40th anniversary of one of his most-loved solo albums.