Beginnings at Mush Records (1999–2009) A resident of
Wolverhampton in the
West Midlands, England, Wilkinson developed a passion for experimental music during his time at
Middlesex University in London from 1999 to 2003, where he studied "sonic arts". His earliest songs were mainly layered guitar compositions inspired by
Steve Reich's
Electric Counterpoint, one of his earliest being "Cantaloup Carousel", which was originally recorded in 1999 at his university residence. His recording equipment at the time consisted of a "plastic" microphone, a budget
sampler,
cassette deck, and a portable
MiniDisc recorder. Listening to music on
Warp Records in 2000 led him to experiment with programming virtual synthesizers in
SuperCollider, which he was introduced to via his university classes. His discovery of
Nick Drake and
The Incredible String Band in 2001 also encouraged him to try fingerpicking and alternative guitar tunings, which "opened up new avenues of melodic expression and serendipity" and "made playing guitar feel fresh and exciting again". Wilkinson credits these "happy days of discovery" at university with helping develop his signature lo-fi sound. After sharing his collection of recordings with Marcus Eoin of
Boards of Canada, Eoin recommended Bibio to American indie label
Mush Records, who signed Wilkinson in 2004. He adopted the name "Bibio" from the name of a black-and-red artificial fly his father used on fly-fishing trips for trout in Wales. Wilkinson's university recordings from 1999 to 2003 formed the basis of his debut album
fi, released in February 2005. Sophomore album
Hand Cranked was released March 2006, and continued in a similar style, seeking to emulate the sound of mechanical
music boxes using antique instruments. His third full-length album
Vignetting the Compost, released February 2009, carried on with his signature sound while progressing towards more traditional folk song structures. Digital only EP
Ovals and Emeralds followed in March 2009 and explored circus music and the sounds of
fairground organs. Bibio's output on Mush Records mostly consisted of instrumental guitar compositions, centered around the use of looped melodies, ambient field recordings, found sounds, tape distortion and manipulation, additional folk instruments, and gentle synth drones. Only occasional songs featured vocals ("Mr. and Mrs. Compost", "Great Are The Piths", "Abberiw", and "Flesh Rots, Pips Sown"). Bibio occasionally worked with
Letherette during this time, after Wilkinson met Richard Roberts working at the same pub as him. Roberts co-wrote and co-produced several Bibio songs, the pair began a short lived music project named SK Dreams, and the three along with
Matt Cutler started a record label named Artists' Valley, which released a limited 7-inch Bibio single "Shelia Sets Sail" in 2005.
Warp and Ambivalence Avenue (2007–2009) While continuing to record lo-fi guitar pieces, Wilkinson was inspired by artists like
J Dilla,
MF Doom, and
Madlib to begin a short-lived hip hop side project named Duckula. Listening to
Daft Punk and Warp Records artists also inspired him to create 90s
french house and electronica tracks, and Brazilian guitarists like
Marcos Valle and
João Gilberto deeply influenced his guitar playing and led him to write funk, soul, and samba inspired pieces. After a period of trying to separate his various styles into different side projects, Wilkinson was encouraged by his friends to de-compartmentalize and merge his interests under the Bibio name. Wilkinson regarded it as "another debut album" and recalled recording the album during "difficult years, having a degree that meant nothing to the world around me... being in my mid 20s and not knowing where I was heading in life in a town with little opportunity," and was uncertain whether people would enjoy its variety.
Ambivalence Avenue was met with largely favorable reviews, with
Tiny Mix Tapes describing it as his "most creative and penetrating release yet" and
Pitchfork ranking it as the 33rd best album of 2009, stating "it's shocking how utterly and successfully he rewrites his playbook." Some reviewers were more critical, with
Drowned in Sound claiming "Bibio's tendency... to either smooth the edges of his creations into non-threatening abstraction or fail to zone in on his best ideas is frustrating." Companion release
The Apple and the Tooth followed shortly after in November 2009, his fourth major release of the year, featuring four new songs and eight remixes of tracks from
Ambivalence Avenue. The original tracks were described as "expert, full of electronic papier-mache layers of arpeggiated guitars, glitchy drum patterns and joyful percussive samples," by
The Guardian. In some publications, it is referred to as Bibio's fifth album due to its length.
Mind Bokeh and Silver Wilkinson (2011–2014) Bibio's next studio album,
Mind Bokeh, was released on 29 March 2011 in the US and 4 April in the UK, promoted by the single "Excuses" in February 2011. It continued the sound of
Ambivalence Avenue with more mixing of genres, including forays into
power pop on "Take Off Your Shirt" and
microhouse on "Saint Christopher". Wilkinson described the album as having a "balance of the familiar and the non-familiar."
Mind Bokeh was met with mixed reviews.
Clash ranked
Mind Bokeh the 24th best album of 2011, and
Slant praised the album for being "fluid and formless, committing to pop structure and melodies one moment only to eschew them the next, often all within the same track", while Tiny Mix Tapes called the album "an ugly stepchild of a record, neither diverting enough to work as pop nor novel enough to satisfy as pure electronic music," and
XLR8R felt the LP had "a less than desirable success rate".
Mind Bokeh was followed by two accompanying EPs,
K is For Kelson in May 2011 and
T.O.Y.S. in August 2011, which featured alternate versions of "K is For Kelson" and "Take Off Your Shirt" respectively alongside new music. Bibio's sixth record
Silver Wilkinson, named after a fishing fly found in a charity shop, was recorded shortly after
Mind Bokeh and was released 13 May 2013. Wilkinson took lyrical inspiration from films and daydreams and sought a "cinematic, panoramic and lush" sound for the record, while electing to "pick up the guitar more and focus on a more melancholy live sound". "Sycamore Silhouetting" dates back to 2007–2008 and existed in "many different versions" before being finished for
Silver Wilkinson, and "You" began as part of the side projects which led to
Ambivalence Avenue. Significant parts of lead single "À tout à l'heure" and "Dye the Water Green" were recorded outdoors in Wilkinson's garden. Wilkinson described the album as his "most melancholy perhaps as a whole". The album was met with mostly positive reviews, with
AllMusic praising the album as "a scenic route through Bibio's music that showcases its depth as well as its breadth."
Silver Wilkinson was followed by
The Green EP, released in January 2014, which features archive tracks chosen to compliment Wilkinson's favorite track "Dye the Water Green". In 2015, Warp Records reissued
fi for its 10th anniversary, adding an uncut version of album closer "Poplar Avenue".
A Mineral Love and Phantom Brickworks (2016–2018) Released 1 April 2016, Bibio's seventh studio album
A Mineral Love featured collaborations with
Gotye, Oliver St.Louis, and Wax Stag, and diverged from his previous work by featuring a prominent 70s, 80s, and alternative R&B sound, later described by PopMatters as a "joyous yacht-psych fever dream". Wilkinson began the sessions for
A Mineral Love in February 2015 by building a sound-proof home studio, which he credits with helping take the album away from the "bedroom producer approach" of his earlier records, and cited
Sly and the Family Stone,
Stevie Wonder,
Joni Mitchell,
Steely Dan,
Prince and
B. B. & Q. Band as influences on the album. Their collaboration led to further meetings, and in September 2017 the follow-up
The Serious EP was released, featuring three more songs written by the pair. Another followup EP
Beyond Serious was released on 12" and digital on 5 May 2017. Wilkinson had always wanted to release "an EP or something of just house tracks". Inspired by a recent purchase of a
Roland TR-808, Wilkinson recorded four tracks using nothing but the machine and a ring modulator, then developed the songs further with synths and manipulated vocals from the recently recorded
The Serious EP.
Phantom Brickworks was released 3 November 2017, preceded by the single "Capel Celyn" on 27 October 2017. In a further divergence from his work over the last decade, the album is entirely ambient, made from a set of improvised compositions consisting of processed piano, synth, and guitar loops surrounded by
tape hiss and
field recordings. Recorded over ten years, Wilkinson produced the LP based on the concept that "places can be haunted by meaning," reasoning that "human beings are highly sensitive to the atmospheres of places, which can be enhanced or dramatically altered when you learn about the context of their history." Most of the song titles are references to abandoned places in the United Kingdom, such as
Capel Celyn, a community in
Gwynedd,
Wales that was intentionally flooded to create a reservoir in 1965, and "Capel Bethania", a song named after
a chapel demolished in 1991. The album was well received by reviewers, who called it Bibio's most accomplished record. It landed at number 11 on
Time Out New York's list of the best albums of 2017.
The Line of Best Fit claimed "Bibio has not only created a record that stands apart from his other Warp albums to date, but has cemented his mastery of the atmospheric." Followup EP
Phantom Brickworks (IV & V), featuring two additional tracks from the
Phantom Brickworks sessions, was released exactly a year later on 12" and digital on 9 November 2018, along with a limited edition release photo book. The tracks were described as "the ideal bookend to Bibio's project".
Ribbons and Bib10 (2019–2023) Bibio's ninth studio album
Ribbons was released on 12 April 2019. The album marks a return to the lo-fi guitar oriented roots of his earlier career, such as on 2009's
Vignetting the Compost, while retaining some of the funk and soul influences featured prominently on
A Mineral Love. The album was well received by critics, accumulating an overall score of 81 out of 100 on
Metacritic, indicating "universal acclaim". Canadian music publication
Exclaim! stated, "With Ribbons, it is clear that Bibio is trying to take the best parts of his music over the years and bring them together into one concise, but eclectic, album, and on more than a few moments, he succeeds beautifully." Ten track EP
Sleep on the Wing was released June 12, 2020, and was an extension of the guitar oriented lo-fi side of
Ribbons, featuring a variety of traditional string instruments and folk inspired songwriting.
AllMusic called it "quintessentially Bibio, and spending more time with it is a joy." In 2020, Warp Records obtained the rights to Bibio's Mush Records recordings, and began reissuing
Hand Cranked,
Vignetting the Compost, and
Ovals and Emeralds on vinyl and digital.
Hand Cranked was reissued digitally with five bonus tracks, including the original recording of "Cantaloup Carousel" from 1999. On 08 September 2022, Bibio announced his tenth studio album
Bib10 would be released 21 October 2022, calling it "more of a party album" and "an ode to guitar in a very different way." The album continued to combine styles from across his career, and received somewhat positive reviews, hailed as "a delight of vintage guitars and old school production techniques" while another reviewer described the album as "burrowing down a not as interesting rabbit hole to search for his groove-based side." There were two follow-up releases in 2023 — the
S.O.L. EP presented reworkings of the title track from Alan Braxe and Bibio himself (as Champaign Eagle and 81810), and the
Sunbursting EP featured seven new songs, including a collaboration with Icelandic saxophonist Óskar Guðjónsson. In August 2024, a 15th anniversary edition of
Ambivalence Avenue was released with three bonus tracks including "The Art of Dying", "West Park", and an extended version of "All the Flowers", all of which were recorded in 2009.
Phantom Brickworks (LP II) and current work (2024–present) In November 2024, Bibio released his eleventh album
Phantom Brickworks (LPII) alongside a limited photobook, a continuation of his study of abandoned locations across the Welsh countryside by way of ambient songwriting and photography. In an interview on the album with
Inverted Audio, Wilkinson shared explicitly that "to make a
Phantom Brickworks album is more like photography. You go out and shoot a roll of film and there might be one really good photo if you’re lucky. So it takes time to build up a collection of those special takes to make an album." == Live ==