Bibio: Mind Bokeh

Bibio
Mind Bokeh
Rating: Meh

Stephen Wilkinson, better known as Bibio, occupies an interesting place in electronic music. His albums tend to merge his interests in electronic experimentation with his background in English pastoral folk. His best work seamlessly integrates these disparate elements, creating a unique sound that is completely Bibio-esque. 2009's Ambivalence Avenue perfectly captured this sound and found Bibio completely in control of what he was doing. The follow up, Mind Bokeh, sees Bibio stretching the reaches of that sound, but slightly losing his focus.

The album begins with his strongest song to date, "Excuses."



Twinkling synths and found sounds similar to Boards of Canada's best work slowly unfold into ambient synth drones and jazzy percussion, changing once again to glitchy keyboards, treated guitar, and Bibio's soothing vocals, subtly auto-tuned. Finally, erupting with squeltchy keyboards and programming, sounding like a computer imploding in on itself. It is a phenomenal track to start the record and really had me thinking this could be Bibio's masterpiece. Unfortunately, Mind Bokeh never quite lives up to that high bar. There are several additional tracks that match up with anything on Ambivalence Avenue. "K Is For Kelson," is delightfully goofy folktronica, bouncing along a Caribbean beat and funky keyboards.



"Mind Bokeh," is a dreamy and wistful memory, full of gauzy keyboards:



"Saint Christopher," ends the album as strongly as "Excuses" begins it. Light, jazzy percussion underscores a looped guitar part, which transfixes with glorious repetition. The mid-point break leads into more insistent beats and intricate guitar work, which floats out like ripples on a lake:



Aside from these key pieces, the rest of the album feels like a lot of quirky, unfinished sketches. "Pretentious," begins promisingly, with wobbly, off-kilter beats and keyboards, but strays far from that path into a lazy attempt at a funk song, that just comes across as silly:



Mind Bokeh finds Bibio moving more towards standard pop song structures, which in theory is an interesting idea, but one that Bibio doesn't have a mastery at yet. Worst example is the monotone "Take Off Your Shirt," with guitar chords drier than zwieback.



Unlike James Blake, Bibio does not have a strong voice to overcome weak material. Too many times he falls prey to over processing his vocals or singing in an affected matter in an attempt to overcome that problem. On "Light Sleep," he assumes the guise of a lothario, and it again comes across as silly rather than sexy:



"More Excuses," has an insipid and simplistic rhyme scheme that is just a step above a Rebecca Black song, and is not helped by a bland melody sleepy drum pattern:



While I applaud Bibio for wanting to stretch himself and not stick to one sound, it seems he needs to take baby steps instead of these gigantic leaps. Too many times on the record he almost has the right idea and then ruins it with an ill-advised detour. "Artist's Valley," is a perfect example. Liquid drum programming and dreamy, glitchy keyboards provide the perfect bed for an interesting take on a pop song. Bibio ends up ruining it with a vocal style that just grates rather than excites.



The first listen of Mind Bokeh will utterly grab you and pull you into its spell. The twists and turns and all over the place pacing and sequencing is enough to throw you off your game. Once you sit down and start putting the pieces together, it unfortunately doesn't add up to anything. The quirkiness becomes maddening and the good ideas that seemed so prevalent at first appear to hide and eventually disappear. I was so ready to love this album. "Excuses" is definitely a keeper and will be on my top singles of the year, but the majority of album will likely not stay long on my harddrive.

Rating Guide

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.