Bibio
broke big with dazzlingly eclectic albums like
Ambivalence Avenue
and
Mind Bokeh
, which showed
Stephen Wilkinson
could bring a sharper edge and more dimensions to his music. However, the breezy folktronica of his earlier work had a lot to offer as well, and the way he incorporates it into
Silver Wilkinson
never feels like a retreat. Bringing a more streamlined approach to the unabashedly pretty sounds he explored on albums like
Vignetting the Compost
, the results aren't quite as bucolic as before; instead, the dainty acoustic guitars and hazy analog synths on "The First Daffodils" sound more like memories of being outside than actually communing with nature. This mix of directness and dreaminess results in some of
's loveliest songs in some time, as on the sweetly tumbling single "A Tout L'Heure" and "Dye the Water Green," which emphasizes its unhurried beauty with a lengthy coda that's the musical equivalent of basking in a sunbeam. While the album's softly rounded edges and gentle peaks and valleys are familiar, the time
Wilkinson
spent perfecting his arrangements on
pushes his music forward in subtle but notable ways. "Sycamore Silhouetting" melds its acoustic and electronic elements with little of the
Boards of Canada
-like nostalgia he often uses; the gorgeous "You" brings a bit more delicacy to the finely chopped hip-hop he explored on his two previous albums, and "Raincoat"'s electric piano gives an early '70s singer/songwriter feel to the track's pastoral observations. But just when it seems that
is going to spend all of
refining his previous sounds, he includes some tracks that are among his most experimental work. "Business Park" morphs from intense synth rock into gentle tones that sound like looped elevator music, but the most striking example is "Look at Orion!," which moves from his homespun, lo-fi roots into darker electro sounds that are driving without being explicitly beat-driven. Both of these tracks are somewhat jarring when juxtaposed with the gentler songs that came before, but they're still in keeping with the creative ways
combines and separates the driving forces in his music throughout the album. Even with some of its more unpredictable moments,
offers a scenic route through
's music that showcases its depth as well as its breadth. ~ Heather Phares