Ibibio Sound Machine - Electricity (2022) LP

Even in trying times, 'there is no love without electricity'. 'Electricity' is the fourth and most progressive album from Ibibio Sound Machine, and like all good afrofuturist stories, it begins with an existential crisis. 'It's darker than anything we've done previously', says Eno Williams, the group's singer. 'That's because it grew out of the turbulence of the past year. It inhabits an edgier world'.

London-based DJ/live music octet Ibibio Sound Machine combine sounds inspired in equal measure by the golden era of West African funk and disco, post-punk, and modern electro. The band was started by producers Max Grunhard, Leon Brichard, and Benji Bouton, all enthusiasts of African grooves from the 1970s and '80s. The group, fronted by English-Nigerian vocalist Eno Williams, took club culture by storm with their 2014 self-titled debut for Soundway. Supported by a host of influential DJs including Gilles Peterson, the album opened the door to international touring. ISM signed to Merge for 2017's Uyai, adding elements of post-punk to their genre collision. They followed with 2019's raucous Doko Mien. 2022's Electricity juxtaposed mutant Afrobeat, funk, and post-punk sounds with cutting-edge electronica. 2024's Pull the Rope shifted focus toward a deeper, darker, mutant form of club music.

This trio began creating drum'n'bass tracks around the voice of frontwoman Eno Williams. Though London-born, she was a first-generation U.K. citizen of Nigerian origin. Williams' mother, whose native tongue was Ibibo, recounted numerous folk and children's stories from her own heritage to her daughter, and Williams crafted lyrics from these sources and married them to modern themes. After the rhythm tracks were created, the three producers first enlisted Ghanaian guitar legend Alfred "Kari" Bannerman (from the band Konkoma), Brazilian percussionist Anselmo Netto, and synth/horn men Tony Hayden and Scott Baylis as a way of illustrating Williams' singing.

Though their inspirations are from an earlier time, Ibibio Sound Machine's approach is distinctly modern; the band's music holds equal appeal on-stage and on record. Their first single, "Let's Dance," was issued by Soundway in January of 2014, and became a dancefloor smash in London clubs. It was followed by a self-titled album in March. In 2016, the group appeared on the Beating Heart: Malawi compilation along with artists such as Luke Vibert and Machinedrum. The same year, the band signed to indie rock powerhouse Merge Records. Their second album, Uyai, arrived on the label in 2017; it peaked at number six on the World Album chart. After a global tour in 2018, during which the Eiyo EP and the single "Basquiat" were released, the octet dropped three more internet-released singles in "Tell Me," "Wanna Come Down," and "Guess We Found a Way" before releasing their third album, Doko Mien, in March of 2019 and hitting the road for an international tour.

After cutting their live shows short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ibibio Sound Machine re-emerged in March 2022 with Electricity. Though they had always employed electronics, they put them at the forefront of the production, in a dissonant mix of Afrobeat, post-new wave disco, and mutant post-punk. The octet went outside the organization for the first time; they recruited Hot Chip as producers and keyboardists, along with Michael Rendall, and drum programmer Peter Matson.

Drummer Ross Orton and multi-instrumentalist Max Grunhard co-produced the band's next album, 2024's Pull the Rope, and was mixed by the drummer. The sound of the ten-song set stood in sharp contrast to Electricity. The former's musical approach was sunny and upbeat with celebratory intensity; the latter shifted its focus toward nocturnal club dancefloors, more intense rhythmic workouts, and more claustrophobic atmospherics. ~ Thom Jurek