Bibio: Beyond Serious

The title of Bibio’s new EP, Beyond Serious, is a misnomer. Bibio has been playing around since the release of his last full-length, A Mineral Love. The new EP, Beyond Serious, is a product of that play.

A Mineral Love was more of what we have come to expect from Stephen Wilkinson’s Bibio project: folky, jazzy, and a little funky. Since that release, we have seen an exploratory period blossom into two drastically different EPs.The Serious EP was similar to what we know from Bibio, but with a guest vocalist, Olivier St. Louis. But Beyond Serious is something quite different: an homage to 1990s French House. It’s quite a departure, and not in any way an appealing one to someone looking for anything even remotely similar to Bibio’s past releases. If you are a die-hard fan, grab this release and dig in, as it has some treasure (“Beyond My Eyes” being this reviewer’s favorite), but it’s not a must-listen release by any stretch.