Ambivalence Avenue

How to describe this? Electronic, but not electronica. Folk-influenced, but also soul-influenced. Chamber pop / bedroom pop, I guess. Lots of sampled noise and nature sounds (think: bubbles, water). Very weirdly, it’s Sunday afternoon chillout fare. It’s fuzzy. And spongy. And... pretty. And pretty British. Not Britpop British... like, tea and crumpets and countryside British. Not unlike Simon & Garfunkel. Or, I don’t know, Kings of Convenience? On the more recent side, you’ll probably like it if you liked Phoenix and the Antlers, though it sounds like neither. I like it, but what the hell?

This is Bibio’s fourth record. He’s a British dude named Stephen Wilkinson. He studied “sonic arts” at Middlesex. No, really.

try: 11-12, 1, 7, 9
no FCCs

*1. soft opening. cool, spongy 3/4 beat. sounds almost etudey. lilty vocals.
2. up the funk! laid back. fuzzy wa-wa guitar and high-pitched male vox.
3. quick & cute. “ditty” is the word. bellsy guitar and s&g vocals.
4. starts with abrasive kid noise. lots of samples and hip-hoppy playbacks.
5. fade in ~7sec. pretty. slower waltz. light, indie vocals. could fade around 1:25 to end, or around :25 to end. either way, fade this sucker out.
6. pushy yet laid-back electroclash beat. delayed playbacks under ethereal bells.
*7. a full 1:30 intro of straight-up fingerpicked waltzer guitar. the main tune is super cute! handclaps, shakers, claves, easy/quick chord changes, and soft-pedal vocals.
8. messy un-tempo twinkly guitar and almost overpowering harmonies. a little too much positive stimulus for me.
*9. bright, sharp, tinny music box intro. vacuumy funk with delayed, cut-up hip-hop vocals, but minus the hip-hop sound.
10. pretty, sad, midtempo solo guitar. lots of audible scratching/sliding. thin vocals. beatlesy. simple. actually somewhat haunting.
*11. play w/ track 12. it’s instrumental and awesome. starts with dark minor guitar ---> wet, crunchy beat. there’s a false ending -- you can cut it there (about :45 to end) if you please. otherwise, bleeds into --->
12. weird clicking/buckle noise. heavy, scratches/skips. kind of forbidding and epic.