Bish Bosch

Bish Bosch was released on 4AD on 3 December 2012. At 73 minutes it is Walker's longest album, and it holds his longest song, SDSS1416+13B (Zercon, A Flagpole Sitter), at 21 minutes 41 seconds. Walker set aside a year to write it, far less time than Tilt or The Drift, and the music was recorded over two years with long gaps between sessions. Walker produced it, Peter Walsh co-produced, and Mark Warman conducted and orchestrated.

The long song came from a friend's library, where Walker learned of Zerco, the court jester of Attila. The Day the Conducator Died was inspired by the trial and execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu on Christmas Day 1989. Walker said the title joined bish bosh, meaning job done, with the painter Hieronymus Bosch. A promotional video came out on 11 October 2012, and Epizootics! and See You Don't Bump His Head were released as a streaming preview on 7 November.

Metacritic averaged 78 from 33 reviews. The Independent, The Guardian and The Sunday Times named it album of the week, Mojo album of the month and Tiny Mix Tapes album of the year, and it placed 11th in The Wire's critics' poll. Pitchfork's Mike Powell placed it in a line of bleak, theatrical music running from Wagner and Mahler to Brel and Bowie.