Bibio - Mind Bokeh (Warp)

Last Saturday as I sat down for a pint in a pub in Dublin, I noticed a poster advertising a Bibio gig in the Button Factory.  As I looked at the date on the poster, then at my phone, I was disgusted to find out that the gig had been the night before, having recently been enjoying his new album, Mind Bokeh.

Mind Bokeh takes up from where he left off with his breakthrough album Ambivalence Avenue and the subsequent release of The Apple and the Tooth.  If Ambivalence Avenue had been a pleasant surprise to those who had been following his development on his three previous albums, then Mind Bokeh will come as a further treat, with Bibio continuing along this trajectory with an even more eclectic mix of sounds and styles.  The album opens with the slow build of “Excuses”, which features layers of Bibio’s modified vocals before building to a glitch-laden climax combined with some tasty vocal samples.

The second track, “Pretentious”, sees the album veering off in a new direction, introducing acoustic elements like the hammer dulcimer against the glitchy beats and synths, before dropping an R&B style vocal melody into the mix.  With “Anything New” we get some nice cut up samples, smooth lead synths and talk-box vocals, before the beautifully put together ballad, “Wake Up”.  The wah-wah guitar of “Light Sleep” harks back to “Jealous of Roses” from Ambivalence Avenue, before the unexpected pop-rock of “Take Your Shirt Off”.  This song stands out like a sore thumb in the middle of an otherwise fine collection of songs.  It seems like one style too many in Bibio’s repertoire, as other songs like “More Excuses” and “K is for Kelson” seem to be a continuation along a trajectory set out on Ambivalence Avenue.  The video of the summery “K is for Kelson” is a nice look at Bibio’s multi-instrumentalism and his diverse sourcing of sounds.



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