Graham Reid | | 1 min read
If there is such a thing as pastoral electronic folk with contemporary minimalist tendencies then this sweet and warm collection by England's Stephen Wilkinson (Bibio) defines the phrase.
With acoustic guitar, fiddle, keyboards, sometimes dreamy and wordless vocals and wrapped in a cover reminiscent of Lemon Jelly's equally pretty Lost Horizon of 2002 (see below), Sleep on the Wing bridges the rural and urban environments which the cover art alludes to.
In 10 short pieces (total playing time less that half an hour) Bibio offers a link between albums like Amazing Blondel's '72 medieval prog-folk on England and the sedate quirkiness of the recent Penguin Cafe (Lightspout Hollow).
Another album where song titles hint at the contents: A Couple Swim (Reich-meets-folk), Oakmoss, The Milky Way Over Ratlinghope, Otter Shadows, Watching Thus The Heron is All Pool . . .
And Miss Blennerhassett at the mid-point is (mercifully brief) jig-lite.
A little uneven within its short running time but the best here is sedate music for people who prefer their folk without the hey-nonny-nonny-no.
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You can hear this album on Spotify here but it also comes as gatefold vinyl (with download card) and CD at selected record stores.
And here below is the outer and inner gatefold sleeve of that album by Lemon Jelly.
Spot the similarities?
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