After five full-lengths and a few EPs, Stephen Wilkinson's Bibio project continues to surprise. His first three albums combined tape-distressed versions of British folk with warbly ambient interludes, and he gradually added vocals that hinted at proper songs. During this stretch, he seemed like someone who wanted to completely master one idiom before he could muster the courage to move on to another. But on his 2009 album, Ambivalence Avenue, Wilkinson moved outside of his comfort zone. His ear for mood and texture was still there, but suddenly his vocals were up front and he was tossing in hip-hop breaks and dense samples to craft a weirdly bent style of electro-pop. It was an exhilarating record. You could feel an artist stepping outside of himself and venturing boldly into new territory, and the sense of adventure was contagious.
Mind Bokeh is no less daring than Ambivalence Avenue, and it covers just as much ground, but here you can feel Wilkinson bumping up against his limitations. His talent for production is fully intact, but some odd choices sabotage the record. Instrumental sections like the title cut and the closing "St. Christopher" show a sound technician firmly in command of his material, folding twinkly keyboards, crackly loops, and gently insistent beats into tracks that are evocative and detailed enough to reveal more with repeated listens. Wilkinson's terrific understanding of sound is undiminished, and he still moves easily between genres and gets most of the key details right. But the further he explores recognizable song forms, the more often the album stumbles.
In the case of "Take Off Your Shirt", that stumble becomes a full-on face plant. Wilkinson's exploratory spirit is a wonderful thing, but glammy power pop in the vein of Phoenix is something he should absolutely, positively leave to someone else. With its blocky guitar riff and canned beat, "Shirt" is stiff and downright unlikable. Fortunately, it doesn't get any worse, but there are still too many ho-hum moments that feel weirdly off. The six-minute "Pretentious" brings the flow of the album to a halt only two tracks in, with a woozy synth-driven lope that's a bit too close to anonymous chillwave and is not redeemed by the tacked-on vocals. Along the same lines but better is "Light Seep". Here, the repurposed AM radio pop of Ariel Pink would seem to be an influence, as Wilkinson mixes a funky wah-wah guitar with percussion that sounds like a Wurlitzer preset. To my ears, it sounds like a so-so take on something Keyboard Money Mark was doing in the late 90s, but "Seep" is at least listenable and a good example of Wilkinson's eclecticism working for him.
On the plus side, "Wake Up!" is very much a continuation of the best of Ambivalence Avenue, with its surging Dilla-fied samples grafted to a vocal performance that finds Wilkinson filled with yearning, sounding almost desperate. And "K Is for Kelson" is a convincing slice of bouncy indie pop that sounds like it's being sung by a robot on holiday in the tropics. These songs are short and sweet, making their point and getting out, which works to their advantage. But on the lengthier tracks, Mind Bokeh seems to hover in an unsteady place between pop song form and soundscapes, and the flaws-- repetitive melodies that don't quite gel, the voice just a bit too high in the mix-- become more evident. There is enjoyable music here, and I've no doubt that the Bibio project has plenty of life on it. But now that Wilkinson has spent a few years trying new things, a little focus might do him some good.
