One Fresh Spin, One Old Gem

By Marc Stephens

Fresh Spin

Artist: Paper

Album: As As

Released: Jan. 8, 2008

Label: States Rights Records

Verdict: Stimulating cerebral electronica

You know you’re in trouble when even your musical guideposts themselves become mired in hopeless obscurity. But it so happens that a painfully obscure band named Cody released a record just like this one a few years back, and it pretty much stank, leading me to swear off this type of soft psychedelic electronica ever since. Yet one can only hold a grudge for so long, right? So, having granted As As a reluctant listen last month, I can honestly report that this one has me officially hooked.

It’s always essential to differentiate one’s musical needs and genres depending upon the extant mood or situation. Paper is NOT the band you want playing your next party, or blasting from your car stereo come Saturday night. But if you read or work (and we all do), then you’d be hard-pressed to dig up a more relaxing or mentally stimulating record to zone out to. As As is the kind of ambient instrumental album wherein each song blends effortlessly into the next like freshly mown grass, so much so that the end of the record seems to sneak up on the listener nearly every time. That’s not to say Paper’s songs are random or without form; despite the dearth of guitars or discernible vocals, most every track features a definite and recognizable song structure. But said “song structures” are leagues removed from most of the tedious, standard-issue ambient indie-rock out there. And with its swirling keyboards and varied electronic flourishes, As As grabs the interest and holds it like few others in this genre — no small feat for a healthy draught of sleepy, meandering electronica.

Old Gem

Artist: Bibio

Album: Fi

Released: February 1, 2004

Label: Mush Records

Verdict: Head over heels

Since belatedly discovering Stephen Wilkinson’s Bibio on eMusic last summer, I have fallen completely head over heels in love with this sparkling four-year-old debut. If Paper occupies the druggy psychedelic underside of indie electronica, then Bibio represents its more playful counterpart: No vocals whatsoever, just sweet guitar-based instrumental complexity that at times seems to have had its humble origins on some overgrown forest floor. Call it Elysian, call it Pastoral Indie, call it whatever you like — but if you have a soft spot for haunting, well-crafted bucolic idylls, Fi will not disappoint.

There are several bands within shouting distance of Bibio’s preferred lo-fi provincial territory, among them Songs of Green Pheasant and Skygreen Leopards, to name but two. Yet Wilkinson’s textures and fretwork arouse the senses in uniquely eerie and primordial ways, taking his cue from Lanterna’s liquid debut, or perhaps Eat a Peach’s softest acoustic moments. A few well-placed vocal and/or nature samples here and there contribute to the lingering sense of absence, as on the drizzly "Cluster at Cwm Einion." But it’s the winding, multilayered guitar progressions that make Fi so wondrous, and a joy to explore over and over again — with "At the Chase," "Bewley in Grey" and especially the endlessly cycling "Puffer" reverberating back and forth between the earlobes like warm water. Especially impressive is Wilkinson’s penchant for subtle variations in his playing, and if one listens to the delicate finger-picking of "Puffer" closely enough, some species of genuine musical revelation might just be in order: There seems to be no bottom to it, which to my mind signals authentic songwriting genius, and represents one of the true hallmarks of inspiration in any genre.

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