Bibio
Mush Records
(2009)

Just months after the release of his nostalgically resonant Vignetting the Compost, Bibio (Stephen Wilkinson) returns with a six-song EP culled from a collage of circus and carnival instruments. While his previous release evoked a sense of the idyllic and pastoral, Ovals and Emeralds is an eerie melange of electronic layers, old world circus music and found recordings. The effect is like being transported, by time machine, to a fin de siècle world fair, excepting all the realism and leaving bare the pared-down romanticism of postcards and music boxes. “Oval Emerald Vertigo” is heart-breakingly beautiful and terrifying at the same time, as if witnessing the massive whimsy and desolation of an abandoned children’s theme park. “The Death of a Trapeze Artist”  is an interlude of disembodied, distant voices and distorted sounds, while the following “Carosello Ellitico” pulls you out of the mire of noises with Bibio’s signature folk guitar melodies. “Polycoulrophone” is a spooky, misaligned composition of out-of-tune circus instruments that recall mid-century English folk music and a heady, paranoiac acid trip (think of the cemetary scene in Easy Rider). The final song “Segee and the Indian” blasts distorted organs and raindrop sounds to end the EP with a dramatic fadeout, as if by its end, everything has felt like a dream. Using modern electronic technology and digging for old world sounds, Bibio crafts timeless, dreamy musical postcards, and this release only creates further anticipation for his future records.

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For more info, visit http://www.mushrecords.com/artist/Bibio.php

via Abe Ahn, 11 April 2009 3:55pm | 1 |