Reviews

Interviews

Essays

Columns

Covers

About

Electricity by Ibibio Sound Machine

Afro-funk band Ibibio Sound Machine have been around since 2013. The London group are best known for blending disco, post-punk, west African funk and electronic music into euphoric, high-energy soundscapes that feel borderless. Their latest album, Electricity, is produced by synthpop stalwarts Hot Chip and offers their most kaleidoscopic project to date. It’s got the same vibrancy, heart-thumping beats and empowered Ibibio and English vocals, but the songs reach new heights both lyrically and instrumentally.

The album opens with the punchy Protection From Evil in which frontwoman Eno Williams sings with a fiery delivery atop a razor-sharp synth line and angsty beat. The Afro-disco title track is rich, with a deep and heavy bassline. Its lyrics might be simple – “Without love, there’s no electricity” – but they stick.

Read More