Phantom Brickworks cover

Phantom Brickworks

Released

Stephen James Wilkinson has made a gang of records as Bibio, none of them much like the others, beyond some kind of “mellowness” and a palette derived from English folk like Pentangle. Phantom Brickworks is openly and proudly ambient, in the most classic sense, or the most easily seen within genre. His jumping off point seems to be Ambient 1: Music For Airports, insofar as the whole album is slow and soaked in echo, much of it sounding like live instruments (possibly hammer dulcimer and piano, though it’s not clear). No beat, no vocals, just a very misty mountain drop here.

Sasha Frere-Jones

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