”Bokeh is a Japanese word,” explains British artist-composer Stephen Wilkinson, a/k/a Bibio, in reference to Mind Bokeh, his second full-length disc for Warp. ”The word from which it originated, boke, means blur or haze. Bokeh with an ‘h’ on the end, however, is more specific to photography; it’s the out-of-focus region of a picture. Photographers and lens manufacturers, particularly Japanese ones, are obsessed with bokeh, because the creaminess of the blur and its relationship to the focused subject may enhance the sharp aspects of the photograph, may make the portrait stand out.” Bokeh is a good analogy for Wilkinson’s newest work, where his alternately dreamy/woozy atmospherics surround ever more confident song craft.
Through these gash old rags
These racks and grates and straps of bags
Like a berry in the leaves
Or a swallow in the rotten eaves
I see your beautiful feminine eye
I watch it reflect the moving sky
Tapping my foot to your favourite tracks
Leaking from your headphone backs
In these ropes and poles
With “PLEASE WAIT HERE” and aching soles
Like a diamond in the rough
Or an emerald in a crimson cuff
I saw your elegant feminine eye
I watch it watching the clock tick by
Tapping your foot to my favourite tracks
Leaking from my headphone backs
New Music United 