Review Summary: A delightful slice of folk ditties
Wouldn't it be nice if we could all head off to the English countryside, gaze at the flowers, the hills, the etc... and enjoy a nice sunshiny day? Okay, well it doesn't have to be English countryside... wherever we are, I'm sure there's some lovely countryside to enjoy. Well, if like most of us, you don't have the time, you always have 'Sleep on the wing'.
This album / EP, clocking in at a rather brief 28 minutes, is plentiful with chirpy acoustic guitar plucking, sprightly melodies and a joyous atmosphere presiding over a 'sense' of simplicity.
This records' strengths lie in its simplest ideas. Not only is Bibio an exemplary musician, but his ability to write beautiful, engaging melodies cannot be understated, neither can his flawless skills at arrangement, where violians, acoustic guitar, the bass guitar, sometimes the keyboards / synthesisers and whatever other instrument he's decided to pickup all work together as they all blend seamlessly for a common purpose.
That last point might seem rather standard, but it's not. Since we're talking about English folk music, you may recall many years ago a man called 'Cat Stevens'; long story short, when he tried to add more instruments to the mix, they didn't blend into the music, but rather, his attempts at expanding his arrangements were often criticised as making the music sound too busy. So even for the best of them, adding more instruments can be a little tricky when it comes to the flow of folk music, and Bibio does it here so seamlessly, speaking to his arrangement skills.
So we've covered that Bibio, at least on this album, is excellent at songwriting, playing and arranging.
When this album works, it's utterly delightful - 'Miss Blennerhassett' is a lilting, baroque sounding acoustic number that flies under the 2 minute radar, but while it's on your filled with that 'yay it's great to be alive' stuff and you'll find it hard not to at least tap your toe or even clap along to the almost unnoticed handclaps in the background. Two songs later, 'Awpockes' is another brief song, but again, another winner; a hearty little acoustic ditty that'll brighten your day.
The album closes with 'Watching thus, the Heron is all pool' - it's another sub-3 minute acoustic ditty but works well. It's slower and more reflective, only to be greeted halfway through by cheerful violins.
As if to prove he isn't all about acoustic folk music, 'A Couple Swim' is a song built around a frenetic bassline, with other instruments gradually joining, and yet somehow it feels 'pastoral'. The brief 'Crocus' is a lot more ominous sounding, a true departure of style - a truly haunting track.
For most people the highlight might be 'The Milky Way over Ratlinghope', a four and a half minute 'epic' that feels like the most ambitious song here. Not as 'cutesy' as the other song, there's a variety of instruments as this song slowly progresses to a crescendo where there's even the angelic 'ahhs' from the artist.
'Sleep on a wing' runs into trouble when the ideas become too complicated. The acoustic ditties 'Otter Shadows' and 'Lightspout Hollow' feature an effect that makes them sound like they are being played on a very old vinyl record, or maybe even reel-to-reel tape. For me this distracts from the songs' enjoyment a bit, rather than making me go 'Lads! The good old days!'
Then, on the opening title track (the second best melody here behind Miss Ble...) and 'Oakmoss', Bibio adds his vocals... now he has a nice voice, but he sings in an alternative-folk style, which means you can barely hear him or what he's saying - so his vocals really add nothing to these songs at all, but rather distract from them. Like honestly, the volume knob to turn the vocals up is RIGHT THERE MAN, just turn it a bit so I can hear what your saying... actually, these songs don't need vocals, they are pretty enough.
While some of the ideas don't add up, most of the music is so pretty, melodic and centred around acoustic guitars, giving a warm, pastoral feeling to the recording. There are many more positives to take away from this than the negatives. If you don't like gentle music this is not for you. However, for music fans with eclectic taste and partial to folk-rock or semi-classical, this should be a very pleasing album. Somewhere in the 3.5 - 4.0 star range.
