Bibliotek

Bibliotek is a 2012 album by Scottish musician Momus. It was released on 5 June 2012 by independent record label American Patchwork on CD and distributed by Darla Records.

Bibliotek
Studio album by Momus
Released	5 June 2012
Length	43:08[1]
Label	American Patchwork (AMPATCH011)
Momus chronology
Hypnoprism (2010) Bibliotek (2012) Bambi (2013)

Background

"The appropriate psychogeography is easily conjured by a YouTube video that purloins material from "the haunted archive". Archival representations of countryside [...] are much more evocative than real countryside. There's a haunted forest of the mind, and it's really the haunted archive itself, disguised as a forest."

 —Momus on Bibliotek.[2]

The book Žižek's Jokes: (Did You Hear the One about Hegel and Negation?), a 2014 compilation of Slavoj Žižek jokes, described Bibliotek as "pastoral horror."[3] Momus said its genre's most immediate source is British horror films of the early 1970s while tracing literary influences back to such writers as William Blake, Horace, John Milton, and Samuel Palmer.[2] He recorded the album in Osaka, Japan while writing a script for a horror film set in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.[4] Bibliotek samples the films The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971), The Wicker Man (1973), and Woman in the Dunes (1964) as well as their respective soundtracks, e.g. Toru Takemitsu's film score, etc.[2][5] Songs from Bibliotek and from other 2000s albums Bambi, Glyptothek, and Turpsycore were recollected in the Cherry Red Records anthology Public Intellectual.[6]

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
PopMatters	[7]

Tank's Shumon Basar described it as "haunted by the necromancy of "pastoral horror" and his dread of the countryside."[2] The Eclectic Collective said "[Bibliotek's] suggestions range from soft horror movies to unhealthy b-movies atmospheres, with morbid pastoral landscapes."[4] PopMatters's Brice Ezell reviewed the album favorably stating "Bibliotek, his twenty-somethingth release, is as obtuse as anything he’s put out before."[7] Reviewing the Cherry Red Records anthology Public Intellectual, Ezell described the music as "forlorn lyrics and minor-key melancholy [...] are compelling even in Momus’ low-key style."[8] PlayGround's Cristian Rodríguez called it "eerily beautiful."[5]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Erase"	2:22
2.	"Lycidas"	2:33
3.	"Dunes"	3:08
4.	"Farther"	4:40
5.	"Core"	2:47
6.	"Southbound"	3:42
7.	"Huge"	3:03
8.	"Bibliotek"	3:06
9.	"International"	3:29
10.	"Cheekbone"	2:46
11.	"Erostratus"	2:12
12.	"Jackdaw"	3:45
13.	"Shunned"	4:19
14.	"Isaak"	1:19

References

1. "Bibliotek - Momus". Allmusic. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
2. Basar, Shumon (31 May 2012). "Momus talks". Tank. Tank Publications Ltd. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
3. Mortensen, Audun (2014). "About the Contributors". In Mortensen, Audun (ed.). Žižek's Jokes: (Did you hear the one about Hegel and negation?). MIT Press. p. 141. ISBN 978-0-262-02671-0.
4. The Eclectic Collective staff (12 June 2012). "Momus / Bibliotek". The Eclectic Collective. eclecticollective.com. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
5. Rodríguez, Cristian (23 October 2012). "Momus: "Se puede escapar de la conciencia de clase pero nunca de la sexualidad"". PlayGround (in Spanish). PlayGround Comunicación S.L. Archived from the original on 2017-04-12. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
6. Cherry Red Records staff. "Pubic Intellectual: An Anthology 1986-2016 – Cherry Red Records". Cherry Red Records. cherryred.co.uk. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
7. Ezell, Brice (28 October 2012). "Momus: Bibliotek". PopMatters. Sarah Zupko. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
8. Ezell, Brice (19 August 2016). "Pubic Intellectual - An Anthology, 1986-2016". PopMatters. Sarah Zupko. Retrieved 1 June 2017.

External links

• Official website
• Momus: Bibliotek playlist on YouTube