Mind Bokeh

''Bokeh is a Japanese word,'' explains British artist-composer Stephen Wilkinson, a/k/a Bibio, in reference to Mind Bokeh, his second full-length disc for Warp. ''The word from which it originated, boke, means blur or haze. Bokeh with an 'h' on the end, however, is more specific to photography; it's the out-of-focus region of a picture. Photographers and lens manufacturers, particularly Japanese ones, are obsessed with bokeh, because the creaminess of the blur and its relationship to the focused subject may enhance the sharp aspects of the photograph, may make the portrait stand out.'' Bokeh is a good analogy for Wilkinson's newest work, where his alternately dreamy/woozy atmospherics surround ever more confident song craft.