We’re getting excitingly close to the release of Bibio‘s new album A Mineral Love, due out on April 1st through Warp. He had already conquered our ears with ‘Petals’, ‘Feeling’ and ‘Town & Country’, all taken from the upcoming album. Bibio is enticing us again with the wonderful ballad ‘The Way You Talk’, also off A Mineral Love. The track marks his first collaboration, with Gotye guesting on vocals. Here’s what Bibio said about it:
“I first heard Gotye’s music when he approached me to remix what quickly became his hit single ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’. I was unfamiliar with him and his music before hearing that track, but I loved the track on first listen and by the second or third listen I was convinced that ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ was going to be a big hit, I was absolutely sure of it. There was just something about that track, the hook, the emotion, the lyrics but also his great voice, it all came together in a way that was something new but also something kind of familiar, a winning combination. Gotye himself has a unique voice but it also feels somehow familiar and I think this was one of the reasons why his track touched so many people.
A few years ago I had been playing around with this chord sequence that I came up with when playing my Wurlitzer electric piano. I became quite addicted to the sequence and slowly developed it over time. As it got more fleshed out and more nuanced, I started to hear potential in it as the foundation of a song. The line “But there’s something about the way you talk” just came out one day while I was playing the piano. I played around with the context of that line and added more lyrics bit by bit, omitting some along the way. The emotional nature of the track and the way I played the piano part seemed to lend itself to an 80s ballad type sound, something I have a bit of a soft spot for.
I did several versions of this track and when it became more developed, I started to imagine a different voice on it. Gotye specifically came to mind because that familiarity I talked about earlier felt like a good match for the track, I just imagined his voice working with the vibe of the track. I contacted him and he was keen to get involved, so I sent him the lyrics, instrumental and my vocal demo and he sent back his vocal parts, not just copying my vocals exactly, he added his own thing, his own nuances, which I loved instantly.”
Listen to ‘The Way You Talk’ below.
