Bibio seems to have no concept of genre at all but it’s a merger of acoustic elements and a lot of electronica elements. He beautifully veers from aching folksy dreamscapes to full of dance freak outs. The Green EP falls towards the folksy side as it takes some of the tracks from his most recent album and adds some similar sounding b-sides to them.
“Dye the Water Green” is the big track taken from the album is gorgeous. It is led with dreamy light electric guitar which has a falling note motif that goes perfectly with the aging organs and strained male vocals. It feels warm and inviting as the main track fades away about 3/5th in and is replaced by a very similar melody that becomes a spacious outro. The guitar seamlessly shapeshifts into an electric bass synth and then patters out as chimes tingle behind it. The mood it creates is great. “Dinghy” feels like a cute guitar tinkle – almost like a Hawaiian track with its high-pitched twangs. It has the effect of it being played through a gramophone for that vintage tone too. “Down To The Sound” is another short track but holds more weight as a gutiar, bass and vocal track. Bibio’s voice is smooth and reminds me of Caribou, whom is probably one of the most similar artists to Bibio. Plenty of atmosphere is added here with an ongoing thunder-storm being sampled behind the watery guitar production. “Carbon Wulf” then goes for the distorted water cave guitar sound for an instrumental track. It has a Cocteau Twins reverb and cuddle to the timber although there’s so much reverb it takes a few listens to appreciate.
“A Thousand Syllables” then turns to keyboard synths for a dark and sombre revolving loop of sampled strings. That section of the track then quietly chews to a halt like a cassette tape and then a twinkling acoustic number begins that feels like a folk classic. The guitars play off each other and are backed by the watery thumb piano styled synths. Bibios vocals which have been heavily reverbed throughout now carry a higher pitch and push the rhythm forward as if you are about to reach a clearing. That clearing ends up being a funky guitar melody that slowly builds with percussion to its finale. “The Spinney View of Hinkley Point” then rounds off this delightfully wistful EP with a waltzing minimal bluesy number. It gradually gains momentum as lots of empty synths wade in. It sounds like the tracks being played in a cave with the way how the production is being used and it makes things feel large and a little eerie despite its nice chord structure.
It’s definitely one for the fans of Bibio to collect. “The Green EP” is not the most representative place to start off if you’d like to get into Bibio but fans of creative folk would lap this release up in their droves if they discovered its secrets.