Bibio

Bibio's latest release on Warp finds the English producer taking a rawer approach, with more live instrumentation than previous albums. Silver Wilkinson runs with a quiet eclecticism; it's nights around a campfire, flip-flopped feet pushing through dew-sodden grass, a blanket stretched out in a park, your head in someone's lap. Opening track "The First Daffodils," with its static crackle, is reminiscent of morning sunlight seeping through shutters, catching particles that twirl blithely mid-air. As the album rolls into subsequent tracks "Dye the Water Green" and "Wulf," with sounds like lapping waves and rain on a tin roof emerging, it feels like a soundtrack to a dream, the gossamer notes riding an ethereal wave. While organic sounds and textures are definitely the focus of the album, tracks like "You" and "Look At Orion!" are where the Warp connection is heard and Bibio's refusal to put limitations on his sound seeps through. The addition of synths and steady, solid backbeats, mixed in with the natural and live elements Silver Wilkinson rides on, gives the album tangibility worth grasping.