Rural pastoral warmth pervades the debut release of Stephen Wilkinson, a central England fellow recommended to Mush byt Marcus Eoin of Boards of Canada. The same sun-fleked nostalgia as Geogaddi appears here, mostly beatless and cracking with lo-fi artifacts. Named Bibio after a favorite fishing lure of his father's, Wilkinson's project seems to long for the crystalline momments of youth frozen into memory as fragments that are constantly revisited. The muted quality of the location recordings might suggest that he, in fact, has aided in the process of fond remembering, and in reshaping the great mutable memory.
Two types of tracks dominate - fingerpicked guitar sounds sprinkled with beautiful gossamer ephemera, and more distorted, Endless Summer-like interludes. "Wet Flakey Bark" is the best of the latter, a melting melody whose wavering shifts under thin but distinct layers of noise. "Bewley in White" rings with John Fahey-like guitar, looming drone and wood flutes snaking over the wandering fingerpick. High levels of hiss pervade the down-tempo groove of "It Was Willow," while meandering acvoustic elements ring clear in the corners, an effect of juxtaposition left undeveloped by an early fade. The scratchy phasing of "I'm Rewinding It" gives way to "Looking Through the Facets of a PLastic Jewel," which sends bliss-out burbles over chiming acoustic guitar while watery location recordings suggest we're inside Wilkinson's head during a very charming bath. "At the Chase" and "Lakeside," on which you can catch glitched glimpses of Wilkinson's voice, might start you thinking that you've entered a town of village innocents, so positively do the drones impart a major key fondness. This is a perfect childhood undamaged, in a place untouched by machines - save nearly broken samplers - that feels no pain. Keep an eye out for the wicker man. - Grooves |
1XLP/Out Of Print