Bibio - Phantom Brickworks (LP II)
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Bibio - Phantom Brickworks (LP II)
Holdrons Arcade
135A Rye Lane
Unit 11 Holdrons Arcade
London SE15 4ST
United Kingdom
Label: Warp Records – WARPLP369
Format: x2 Vinyl LP
Country: UK
Released: November 22, 2024
Genre: Electronic
Style: Experimental, Ambient, Dark Ambient
Ranked #7 in Inverted Audio's Best Albums of 2024, Phantom Brickworks (LP II) is Bibio's long-awaited sequel to his 2017 hauntological landmark — and it picks up precisely where that record left off, extending the investigation into forgotten Britain with the same patient, mist-laden approach. Mastered by Guy Davie and vinyl cut by Hendrik Pauler, the ten-track LP draws attention to new sites: intriguing, vast scars on the natural landscape, places that survive only in local memories, historic clips and photographs, some submerged from ordinary sight, others existing purely as legends and stories.
Stephen James Wilkinson's sonic language remains as quietly devastating as ever — delayed piano chords, reverb-drenched pads and the kind of unhurried, atmospheric drift that soundtracks a sepia-tinged view of once-busy places, now devoid of human activity. The isles may be relatively compact, but Phantom Brickworks (LP II) finds the little pockets of forgotten architecture and abandoned infrastructure that fell between the cracks — the peripheral places between urban sprawl and new-build housing estates that no one else is documenting with this kind of care. To mark the release, Tom Durston interviewed Bibio for Inverted Audio, unearthing the haunting soundscapes and mindset behind the project. Essential listening.
→ READ INTERVIEW BY TOM DURSTON
A1. Dinorwic
A2. Dorothea’s Bed
B1. Phantom Brickworks VI
B2. Suram
B3. Llyn Peris
C1. Phantom Brickworks VII
C2. Tegid’s Court
D1. Brograve
D2. Spider Bridge
D3. Sychder MCMLXXXIX
