A Mineral Love is the new album from Bibio, the moniker of producer, musician, and songwriter Stephen Wilkinson. Wilkinson—similar to Ruban Nielson (Unknown Mortal Orchestra) and Kevin Parker (Tame Impala)—is a lone wolf and works from home. He has the funding and time to hone sounds, refine arrangements, and fiddle with production until he’s crafted a near-perfect pop masterpiece. But unlike Nielson and Parker, Wilkinson doesn’t have a band or hit the road—he never leaves home—and being a homebody affords him the luxury to be prolific. A Mineral Love is his eighth full length release, in addition to three EPs and a small pile of remixes.
Wilkinson has a fascination with danceable pop from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. His music exudes the feel and melodic sensibilities of artists like Prince, Hall and Oats, and Michael Jackson. Sly Stone’s influence is strong as well and on A Mineral Love is most apparent on the track, “Feeling” (the opening guitar jabs, sax line, and bass groove ooze Sly with abandon).
But Wilkinson’s real calling card is the gritty, crackling world of lo-fi. It’s an aesthetic he pushes to an extreme. He loves warbles—microtonal fluctuations that sound like a malfunctioning tape machine or dying turntable—they are a hallmark of his sound and are in abundance on A Mineral Love. “Petals,” the album’s opener, starts with a warbled guitar and is enhanced by a reversed melody line—also played on guitar. The effect is stunning. It sets a mellow yet slightly off-kilter tone that permeates throughout the album. From start to finish, A Mineral Love is awash in swoony oscillations, trippy textures, and crackling lo-fi noise, which compliment the clean guitar tones, synths, and timbre of his vocals.
The guitar playing is excellent on A Mineral Love as well. Wilkinson’s lines, although somewhat predictable, are song-appropriate—he isn’t a shredder—and his timbral choices are impeccable. The lone exception is the overdriven guitar sound on “Town & Country.” It over-emphasizes the diatonic nature of the guitar line and adds an unnecessary layer of cheese, which is unfortunate. But it’s a solitary glitch sampled from an otherwise rich and tasteful tonal pallet.
A Mineral Love has a subtle, low-key vibe, which deemphasizes some of the album’s extreme rhythmic play. “C’est La Vie,” for example, sits over a super-exaggerated swung eighth feel and gives the groove a stringy-stretchy bounce—a refreshing break from the metronome tight programed drum patches so common in mainstream pop. The drum and bass interaction on “Feeling” is another example. Their jerky interaction—particularly in relation to the faux snare backbeat—creates a push/pull that makes it difficult to find your footing. It’s subtle, but those surprises make A Mineral Love enjoyable. A few songs are without drums and again, that’s cool. The loopy guitar lines and backwards leads on “Petals” are driving and dynamic. The tight rhythmic interplay on “Saint Thomas” is almost edgy—proof you don’t need an obvious snare hit to create tension and propel a song forward.
But it isn’t all crunchy lo-fi and jerky rhythms, some songs are downright slick. “Why So Serious,” featuring Olivier Daysoul, with it’s period-correct ‘80s-style synth bass, could be an ode to the glory days of MTV. The guitars have that cool active Strat sound and bring to mind Adam Hann from the 1975. “Gasoline & Mirrors,” with Wax Stag, also boasts superior production—clean tones, a propelling groove, and handclaps as the song’s sole percussion.
A few songs, like “Raxeira,” (my favorite hook on the album) and “The Way You Talk,” have abrupt endings that sound incongruous in relation to the rest of the song. It’s a cool effect—the Beatles did it at the end of “Glass Onion” for example—but it’s overdone. Wilkinson uses it to change gears. Maybe he feels stuck—he doesn’t want to come up with a bridge or stick in a guitar solo—but a better arrangement would serve the song better.
But that’s a minor complaint—and I don’t know if it’s much of a complaint. A Mineral Love is a fantastic experience. It drops you in a trippy mellow world, challenges you in subtle ways, and rewards you if you make the effort to listen carefully.