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MH-263 Bibio - Vignetting The Compost  Seamlessly amalgamating nature and electronics, Vignetting The Compost, the third full-length release from Bibio, channels instruments and vocals from a bygone era through a futuristic digital portal. History may credit Edison with the phonograph but, in truth, the first such device mysteriously washed up on the shores of England in 1876… playing Bibio. Vignetting The Compost is at once timeless and innovative; 60s-esque folk guitar and mechanic manipulations of sounds whose instruments of origin are less important than the feelings they evoke, layer upon each other with ease and intricacy. Just when you expect to hear Nico’s moan escaping your stereo, Bibio himself comes through with a voice that could have sung next to her on “These Days.” Truly, this is an album for the ages. |
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| Reviews Summary |
| Some of Bibio's most varied and immediate work - All Music Guide / A beautiful, crackling bricolage of vintage sounds - Evil Monito / Bibio’s best record - PopMatters / Quite perfect - Losing Today / Bibio should have no problem calling his greatest - Urb / Beautiful, expressive pools of sound - The Agit Reader |
| Stephen Wilkinson returns with his third album as Bibio. Wilkinson has done it again, delivering some of the best acoustic guitar songs he has ever produced, backed with occasional field noise, other instruments, and subtle electronic effects. Nothing will sound out of place if you heard his previous album Hand Cranked (my #1 album of 2006), but there's more variety in the style of guitar and songs on this album. The vocal style he debuted on Hand Cranked's "Aberriw" (now being used for the new Friday the 13th trailer) returns here on more tracks and sounds fantastic. Wilkinson seems to have a way to take a simple guitar melody and breathe it full of life by increasing the intensity of the rhythm or adding subtle sounds around it. It's almost as if he re-creates the sound of nature around his music. Take away the hip-hop beats from Boards of Canada and double up on the guitar from tracks like "Chromakey Dreamcoat" and you're approaching the Bibio sound. If I had one criticism of the album it would be that the sequencing seems a little disjointed, especially at the beginning. By the time you hit album highlight "The Ephemeral Bluebell" the albums gets to autopilot and is a near perfect experience. Another classic from Bibio and the first great album of 2009. - The Music Lobby |
