Ribbons

Description

Bibio returns with Ribbons. Following his ambient and atmospheric project Phantom Brickworks, Stephen Wilkinson, his real name, goes back to structured songs, which he had already explored to some extent on A Mineral Love (2016). Ribbons has a folk charm, with an organic palette bringing together primarily acoustic sounds drawn from the psychedelic movement of the 60s and 70s, but also from soul, ambient, electro, and field recordings. A self-taught musician, singer, and producer, Wilkinson plays nearly all the instrumental parts of the album, adding new instruments to his collection such as mandolins and violins that give a more traditional dimension to his music. However, the very title of the album, Ribbons, is taken from his most electronic track, Pretty Ribbons and Lovely Flowers. On this track, distorted and haunting female vocals illuminate a passage through dark ambient. The songs on the album often rely on melodic lines, like those used in the first single Curls, which serve to define the rhythm of the track instead of percussion. There are, however, a few exceptions, such as Before with its 70s soul or Old Graffiti, whose groove is inspired by Brazilian music. Guitars weave and blend on instrumental tracks like Valley Wulf, and never stray too far from the folk and storytelling grain that unites the album. With Ribbons, Wilkinson oscillates between genres, mixing the unknown and the familiar as he carves his own path.