A longtime favourite of ours, Bibio announced last month the release of PHANTOM BRICKWORKS (LP II). Arriving on November 22nd through Warp, it marks the second release from his ongoing project Phantom Brickworks, which draws inspiration from certain places around Britain and the charge they carry. Following two marvellous singles, ‘DINORWIC’ and ‘LLYN PERIS’, Bibio shared this week the third sublime single ‘PHANTOM BRICKWORKS VII’ . Of the new track, he says:

“‘PHANTOM BRICKWORKS VII’ is a single-take improvised piano piece using two digital delay pedals and the same antique upright piano I’ve been using for over 25 years. The equipment and techniques are more or less the same as those used on the very first PHANTOM BRICKWORKS track recorded some 18 or so years ago. This piece has a more rhythmical approach, using one pedal as a kind of timekeeper/divider and the other as the looper, the result is a more structured overall sound, rather than being more free and floaty. All of these improvised pieces are unrepeatable, as the way the notes decay and crumble is a crucial component of the music, which is a characteristic of the specific pedals I use. ‘PHANTOM BRICKWORKS VII’ is one of my favourite piano improvisations I’ve ever recorded, the way it builds into something that sounds structured and composed wasn’t so obvious to me while I was recording it as I was concentrating on every note being added to the gradually evolving loop. This one-take improvisation has no additional layers, but the original piece was over 18 minutes long – I cut it down by starting the track at a midway point, so it starts more fully formed, but the history of how the melodies were built up is embedded within the crumbling layers like layers of sediment, the older the notes – the more distant and ghostly they become.”

Ethereal and beautiful, ‘PHANTOM BRICKWORKS VII’ is after your ears.