First released in 2009 through American downtempo and instrumental label Mush Records, two of Bibio’s earliest works ‘Ovals & Emerald‘ and ‘Vignetting The Compost‘ have received the repress treatment courtesy of Warp Records.
Both efforts explore alternating themes and give a unique insight into Stephen Wilkinson’s mindset and imagination from his early years. ‘Ovals And Emeralds‘ is presented as a 10-inch EP and is considered a standout Bibio release, thank to its nostalgic merry-go-round aesthetic, final track ‘Segee And The Indian‘ steals the show for its degraded lo-fi tape acoustics.
‘Vignetting The Compost‘ is presented as a double LP with printed inner sleeve, sounding a lot more Summery than ‘Ovals And Emeralds‘ – this full length album is the very epitome of Bibio’s folklore sound, highlights include ‘Flesh Rots, Pip Sown‘, ‘Under The Pier‘ and ‘The Ephemeral Bluebell‘. Bibio further explains:
‘Ovals & Emeralds‘ explores particular themes that I found haunting as a child: outdated ornate Victorian design, dolls and clowns, automatons, wind up toys, fairgrounds and circuses. The goal was to evoke these themes through manipulation of my own instrumentation, rather than directly sampling fairground organs etc. Although there are some more playful moments on the EP, the dreamlike qualities often take the form of feverish nightmares, dizzying and disorientating with a dose of paranoia.
‘Vignetting The Compost’ partly draws on a theme of the endless cycle of life and death, of growth and decay and how the two are dependent on each other, often felt strongly by humans as polar opposites but the process of which are seamlessly connected. I was partly inspired by Walt Whitman’s ‘Leaves of Grass’, which I was reading around the time of writing this album. The images gained from books are created in the reader’s mind, but so can be said of listening to music, so the creation of the imagery is somewhat of a collaboration between the writer and the reader or listener.
This album also explores the processes of pain, loss, suffering and healing, with an optimistic hopeful tone growing over the lamentation like ivy on a gravestone. I’ve always been fascinated with the quality of the imagination and dreams, how edges are unfinished and indefinite, unlike the boundaries of a cinema screen. In dreams, forms and details can seem vivid yet vague, impressionistic, powerful yet difficult to recall. These were the qualities and aesthetics that I focussed on with this album, including intertwining musical ‘vignettes’ amongst the more structured tracks
‘Ovals & Emeralds’ explores particular themes that I found haunting as a child: outdated ornate Victorian design, dolls and clowns, automatons, wind up toys, fairgrounds and circuses. The goal was to evoke these themes through manipulation of my own instrumentation, rather than directly sampling fairground organs etc. Although there are some more playful moments on the EP, the dreamlike qualities often take the form of feverish nightmares, dizzying and disorientating with a dose of paranoia.
Order a copy of Ovals & Emeralds and Vignetting The Compost from Bandcamp.