Ambivalence Avenue is the latest offering from British music producer Stephen Wilkinson, the brains and brawn behind Bibio’s unique brand of electronica. While studying “sonic arts” at Middlesex University in London, Wilkinson developed a style of intelligent dance music that weaves found and field recordings with traditional folk influence. This approach creates a softly textured sound that is comforting and yet contemplatively other worldly.

Ambivalence Avenue opens with an ethereal lounge folk number reminiscent of a flower child romp through the countryside. Just when you’ve settled into this comfortable reminder of days past, Bibio reminds you that synthesizers are the instruments of the future, and hey, we’re living three years away from 2012. This IS the future. But this future isn’t exactly the world of pristine, man-made landscapes and ultimate human control that our oh so ambitious forefathers envisioned. The future living in Ambivalence Avenue is one thatt seems to be an intelligent and reflective update on the new horizon.

The skillful recycling of Wilkison’s library of found sound layered with resourceful field sampling and mastery of current synth technology is parallel to the contemporary vision of humans relying on utilizing the mounds of scraps leftover by past cultures to sustain our current society. Because of the variety of scraps Bibio works with, each song retains a coherent individuality. “Haikuesque (When She Laughs)” offers a soothing laid-back intelligent dance sound, while the following song “Sugarette” incorporates bubbly pop. Then, “Lover’s Carvings” pulls you back into the meandering folk influence of the album opening. The rest of the album follows and develops this same formula of ebb and flow between traditional future folk to spaced out dance. The way that Ambivalence Avenue consumes and reconstructs these choice scraps has resulted in a sound that is young and relevant rather than tired and predictable. This album is a welcome and well reasoned step forward in terms of Bibio’s past releases and in the current climate of folk revival in the music market. I’ll be relying on this album to get me through the rough transition to fall ahead of us.