Album of Interest - November 2017
Phantom Brickworks, Bibio (Warp Records)
Traditional ambient music lacks the structure of predictable musical elements, such as regular beats, metered harmonic progressions, and catchy melodies. One might wonder how best to measure the quality of such music when it has little observable structure. Good ambient music grounds the listener in sonic feeling rather than in the contrast of explicit musical elements. It is not that ambient music has no structure; rather, its structure is crafted out of the ghost of familiarity. Phantom Brickworks is an album of repetitive melodies and haunting timbres that ground the listener in distant ambience. The majority of tracks last more than 8 minutes, which is enough time to cause the listener to sink into a still, meditative state. Bibio’s ambient tracks hold the listener in a feeling of solitude (sometimes peaceful, sometimes melancholic) with little deviation. If the music were just predictable nebulous sounds, the album would be utterly boring. However, while the feeling of each track is sustained and predictable, the sounds that inspire the feeling are constantly shifting, subtly fading in and out. The listener is captivated by each moment of musical discovery because the flow of the music is not defined by simple patterns. The flow is defined by Bibio, who (throughout his discography) has shown himself to be proficient in a variety of musical styles, a master of unique timbers, and an expert at mixing sounds. Phantom Brickworks represents the culmination of more than a decade of musical prowess. On the surface, it may seem hollow, but its natural flow and emotional stillness impart a beautiful resonance to its empty spaces which, in turn, fill the listener with feeling.
