If you’re seeking a brief escape from whatever drudgery or horror is currently occupying your headspace, bib sama has you covered.
The North London-based artist makes transportive music, drawing on a kaleidoscopic range of influences, from the Gambian and Senegalese rhythms that soundtracked life at home, D&B, UKG and glitchy hyper-rap, to anime and video game soundtracks. It’s a sound he calls “bibcore,” which he’s cultivated like a beautiful rose garden across three full-length projects, culminating in last November’s GAIA.
“It [bibcore] is very iridescent, in terms of the colours painted on the canvas,” he tells RWD, thoughtfully. “It’s very colourful, it’s very bright, it’s bold. It’s nuanced too and textured. You can run your finger along it, feel the roughs and bumps and really be enveloped in a sensory, holistic experience, serving to transport you to different worlds, whether it’s a moment in a song, a track or a whole album.”
bib’s creative journey began in childhood as a visual artist, teaching himself graphic design. Then, in 2016, inspired in part by Black British music’s autonomous DIY heritage and, crucially, the emergence of experimental bedroom artists on SoundCloud like Raider Klan and Ski Mask the Slump God, he copped himself a USB mic and got it cracking. “I got the mic on eBay, downloaded Audacity, downloaded some type beats and got to work,” he remembers, laughing. “My music has very much been me just experimenting.”
On GAIA and GAIAAAAAAAAAA — the deluxe version of the project, released in April — bib’s creative partnership with friend and producer TayoLoxs sees those experiments fully realised. Here, bib’s wavy, warped vocals slalom around productions that glow like 64-bit neon playgrounds. Underpinning the fun is a peppering of distinctly British grit and a timely reimagining of our current reality. “My thought [for GAIA] was: at what point did the timeline diverge to where we are now with ongoing wars and genocides happening?” bib says, explaining the concept behind the project. “It’s symbolic of my youth as well, and me exploring the internet where everything felt so bubbly. The forms of exploration were limitless,” he continues, on a roll. “So how can we diverge now to somewhere that feels more bright and less dystopian? It [GAIA] doesn’t look too far from where we are now.”
The escapist thread that runs through bib’s music has a personal meaning, tethered to a period of “turbulence” and upheaval for him and his family, when they moved from South London to Finchley for their safety. “Looking back, I understand why I loved playing games so much or watching vlogs,” he reflects. “I think that’s why I lean towards world building and more optimistic images. I wouldn’t necessarily use the word ‘escapism.’ It’s more me reprogramming my brain, a sense of therapy and being very intentional with the words I’m using. Like: what kind of future am I building for myself, mentally?”
GAIAAAAAAAAAA is out now.
Read the full feature in RWD Magazine Issue
133
Read the full feature in RWD Magazine Issue
133
