Ribbons - Bibio: Review

Stephen Wilkinson

AKA Bibio is a British singer songwriter who developed a devoted indie fanbase while releasing numerous genre bending albums across the second half of the 2000's and into the 2010's. He has dabbled in folk, electronica, indie, pop and even ambient all the while developing a sharp and recognizable style that helped him stand out from his contemporaries. 

Review By Lavender:

I will be the first to admit I have never been a die-hard Bibio fan. He definitely has his moments especially early in his career experimenting with folk-tronica and some very abstract indie sounds but with the exception of 2009's Ambivalence Avenue I was never really thrilled by any of his projects. This was until 2017 when he dropped a project that initially flew under my radar but I very thankfully caught onto. Phantom Brickworks was unlike most of Bibio's other projects, it was a venture into true to form ambient music and after being a month or so late to the party it became one of my favorite ambient projects of the year. While it seems like Stephen learned a lot from that venture and it does show at points across this album, the formula isn't perfect.

There are some moments across this album where Bibio's genre bending history armed with experience and knowledge from a true ambient project helps the album shine, particularly in the first leg of the album. Beret Girl is the simple but gorgeous opening track, it's a short instrumental piece but a beautifully arranged one that does a great job starting the album off. Ode To A Nuthatch is another gorgeous song, this one a little more prominent with surprisingly loud strings and a great ambient backing that helps put you into the albums headspace as well as any of the other tracks here. Watch The Flies is one of the best songs here that blends some brilliant strings and a sweet buildup with a gorgeous vocal melody to create a compelling and complete final product.

Valley Wulf later on in the project is a stark instrumental piece that dabbles in ambient but never quite lets your heart rest. and finally Pretty Ribbons And Lovely Flowers, a huge song from a sonic standpoint that has some instantly noticeable bass hits, and obscured vocals that ended up being one of my favorite vocal performances the entire album has to offer.

Speaking of vocals the elephant in the room with numerous songs here that include Bibio on vocals is that they pretty routinely pull from Tame Impala in a huge way. Before is a pretty fantastic song with some great synths and percussion set up in the instrumental but getting over the similarities between Bibio's vocals and Kevin Parker on numerous Tame Impala songs can be a lot. The Art Of Living is far from the most compelling song here but added on top of the whimsical natural instrumentation is a not so compelling vocal melody that once again pulls from Tame Impala hard and seems like more of a distraction from the song than an addition to it. Old Graffiti is by far the worse offender with so much of the vocals and instrumentals sounding just like Tame Impala that with some more expensive production tricks it could more than comfortably slide into the tracklist of Currents which is extremely distracting as I tried to listen along.

Although taking influence isn't necessarily a bad thing, when he pulls from some folk artist like Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver the outcome is usually very solid. Quarters is one of my favorite tracks in the entire tracklist and feels inspired by Fleet Foxes in a way that is noticeable but not distracting. Erdaydiddler-Errdiddar is another example of a pretty solid track that pulls from pretty heavy folk direction. 

Not every song is perfect though, a surprise amount of these songs either beat a short idea to death over 4-5 minutes or never really have much going in the first place. Curls and Patchouli May are both pretty underwritten tracks that go on for far longer than their ideas are interesting and end up being more of a distraction from the better songs on the album. Frankincense And Coal and Under A Lone Ash are both so light and formless that they might as well not be anything more than loose detours or interludes and in that regard they are still just okay. Finally It's Your Bones and You Couldn't Even Hear The Bird Singing are both cuts with some strange production decisions. Whether it be vocals that completely don't match the song at all or straight up distracting effects that sound very rigid and unnatural and completely take you out of the albums natural world, these were the only two songs I actively didn't enjoy. 

Bibio has still failed to truly blow me away but given I've come away somewhat positively from back to back project for the first time in I believe his entire studio album career I will certainly be anticipating what he does next and likely giving it a review whenever it may drop. As far as this project goes it could use some slimming down for consistency's sake but what is here has a pretty tight theme and explores some interesting ideas throughout. 6.5/10

Favorite Track: Watch The Flies 

For more indulgent indie check out my review of Weyes Blood's Titanic Rising here.