Bibio: Mind Bokeh

Label: Warp

Bibio released three albums during 2009, so the fact that he'd been quiet from then till now -- well, it felt like a long time, at least. One listen to Stephen Wilkinson's sixth Bibio album, the curiously titled Mind Bokeh, and we're glad he's back. He clearly hasn't been sitting on his ass: Mind Bokeh dispenses with the folky elements that he'd been blending successfully with his signature electronic frippery and mixes in a different kind of songcraft, the sort of pop that exists within the world of hip-hop. "Anything New" is unstoppably sunny, bouncing along the kind of rhythm track you might expect to hear booming out of a convertible in SoCal. The following "Wake Up!" opens with a lo-fi bit, the kind that you expect to explode into one of Kanye's Technicolor productions, but instead it fades into something trickier -- definitely pop and with a full vocal but still Bibio, with electronics dancing in the background. Lots going on here -- dive in!