Only a few years into his career, understated folk alchemist Stephen Wilkinson aka Bibio already has three stellar full-lengths under his belt. That’s a tall order to add on, especially considering the most recent one dropped a couple months ago, but I guess Wilkinson doesn’t sleep, because his next installment is already prepped to go. In hindsight, you could look at this spring’s Vignetting the Compost as the final word a trilogy of albums, because having perfected his blend of folk, ambient electronica, and other lush antiquities into a seemingly effortless recipe, Wilkinson makes a crossover bid towards synthetic wilderness on Ambivalence Avenue.

This debut for Warp Records (where Wilkinson can now release music beside his heroes the Boards of Canada), is built around the same aesthetics of past albums, but then chopped and chewed into both awe struck and knee-jerked forms of electronica, glitch-hop, folk/funk, and straight dance. He is not afraid to flex his production skills like on the Dilla/Prefuse inspired “Fire Ant”, which marries his love of IDM and ambient nostalgia into a seriously soulful crowd-pleaser. If anyone picked up Bibio’s remix of Wax Stag’s “Folk Rock”, you have a pretty good idea of what the up-tempo segments of this album will sound like.

But then again it wouldn’t really be a Bibio release without some textural ADD, and there are a few interjections of his singer-songwriter persona throughout, like the frail warble of “The Palm of Your Wave”. Individually, these songs are all evidence of a high point in Wilkinson’s adventurous output, but when you put them side to side it’s difficult to imagine a similar creator, with a few exceptions. “Cry! Baby!” makes a strong case that Wilkinson has a concrete vision for integrating his folk arraignments into an IDM platform. Of course, with the title Ambivalence Avenue, it’s obvious that this album was intended to be an exploration of the contrasts and compliments of these disparate genres.

Other points of interest include the howling lo-fi banger “Jealous of Roses” that sounds like the alumni of an Ariel Pink-run class on funk classics, and “S’Vive” which if it had only come out a few months earlier could’ve been a contender for the now-announced Warp20 tracklisting, boasting a euphoric Hudson Mohawke-esque spindle of glitchy drums and tweaked vocal snippets.

We’ve been a believer in Bibio for a long time now and we haven’t had to eat our words yet. This LP isn’t as conceptually dense as Fi or Hand Cranked, but basically, your car’s stereo is fiendin’ for this album, and even the pop-oriented segments can’t escape being colored by Wilkinson’s warm psychedelic leanings.

Ambivalence Avenue is out June 22nd on Warp Records.

Oh, and just for kicks/reference, here’s a vid of Bibio dusting off his MPC back in 2007 under his Duckular project:

MPC chopping

MP3 :::
Bibio – Fire Ant
Bibio – Cry! Baby!

Ovals & Emeralds, the new EP from Bibio, is full of disorienting growths of sublime field recordings, toy-chest noises, and coarse synths. On this follow-up to the superb Vignetting the Compost, Bibio’s signature creekside guitar is only present on two of the tracks, but here he has crafted his ambient work to equal perfection. The sun goes down on his usual idyllic pastoralism to bring out a bleaker landscape with a slightly menacing air to it like the meditations of Wolfgang Voigt. Amidst the wall of sound are faded music boxes and rich bonsai soundscapes that hypnotize you like a demented carnie at the circus gates.

Still no date for the limited edition vinyl, but Ovals & Emeralds is available for download. You should get on that, because this may be his swan song for Mush Records. It’s official now, Bibio is to be the newest artist on the Warp roster!  I bestow my sincere blessings on this holy matrimony, as Wilkinson has certainly earned this invitation to the family. You can go to his Myspace to hear snippets of the upcoming Warp debut. From the preview, it sounds like an intense mash-up of Prefuse 73 and Iron & Wine, collapsing folk and glitch-hop into one. Below, for your viewing pleasure, is a video of Bibio performing “Oval Emerald Vertigo” from the new EP. Is that an MPC he’s banging it out on? Touché sir.

MP3 :::
Bibio – Carosello Ellitico
Bibio – Six String Marenghi

Last Tuesday, Stephen Wilkinson, better known as Bibio, finally released his 3rd full-length Vignetting the Compost on Mush Records. I’ve been feverishly awaiting this album since rumors of it first began circulating last fall, making due with the tease of his absurdly intricate Clark remix from 2007’s Ted EP. If you’ve never checked out Bibio before (I forgive you in advance) this is a great opportunity to get acquainted, because here he makes good on all the potential his past recordings hinted at.

Bibio took his moniker from the fly lure his Father would use during their outdoor excursions together, and the rest is history. Having studied “sonic arts” in college, and being an avid electronica fan, it’s obvious that his unexpected output is equally influenced by the native geography of those fishing trips. Wilkinson grew up in Black Country, England, and pays homage to this lore-soaked land with his idyllic sound-scapes (and dope Flickr account). In fact, this album is so made for outdoor listening that it pains me to hear this knowing fully well that it’s 23 below outside so I can’t go scrape Pippi Bongstockings and frolic to the nearest woods.

Upon the release of his first album Fi in 2004, Bibio was famously championed by his long-time heroes the Boards of Canada as being “the antidote to the modern laptopia of pristine electronic music,” (no pressure, dude). A hefty claim, but Fi certainly did carve out a unique spot in Mush’s roster. Less akin to the modern process meditations of Fennesz and Tim Hecker, Wilkinson reached further back to channel the likes of John Fahey and his protégé Leo Kottke in achieving his signature wall of sound. The opener in particular, “Bewley in White,” plays like a smudged out-take from the more tender moments of Kottke’s 6 and 12-String Guitar.

Emerging from the haze with 2006’s Hand Cranked, the wagon-drawn pace picks up speed. The ambient interludes that comprised half his debut are omitted in favor of a bustling mix of phased acoustic picking and parlor-style piano. On “Above the Rooftop,” Wilkinson drops the guitar and tickles the cracked ivory keys exclusively, narrating some turn-of-the-century river town’s morning commute.

Vignetting the Compost successfully negotiates the territories of his two previous efforts with dense polyphonic riffs that both compliment and antagonize each other, quavering like an over-cranked machine. It is on this album that we learn of Wilkinson’s vocal abilities, which fit snugly between 60’s folk-rock and contemporary warblers like Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. The album’s single, “Mr. & Mrs. Compost,” even hints at singer-songwriting prowess, with his voice confidently navigating the horizontal growth of his stark finger picking.

Wilkinson’s love-affair with electronic music does bleed in as the album progresses, but never takes the foreground. His electronica influence rests like a thin layer of emulsion atop the sepia-toned guitar waltzes.  The album’s charm is in it’s humble ambition, and while it hints at the transcendental, Bibio is much more concerned with earthly comforts. On “Amongst the Bark and Fungus,” the contrast between the sharp twang of the guitar and the muffled synths create a deeply Proustian, womb-like sensation enhanced by a strong emphasis on location recording, and application of background atmospherics, that create a delicate room noise to frame the compositions, or as the album suggests, vignettes.

Vignetting the Compost is available now on Mush’s web-store. Also, be on the lookout for the follow-up EP, Ovals & Emeralds, to drop sometime in the near-ish future.

MP3 :::
Bibio – Mr. & Mrs. Compost
Bibio – Thatched