Ibibio Sound Machine's 'Electricity' Is the Shock to the System You Are Looking For
The London-based Afrofuturist collective bring in members of Hot Chip to beautifully blend genres for one of the year's best.
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March has been a reasonably strong month for new releases, especially for the ol’ indie-pop genre, but I find myself still looking for that album outside of this realm that slaps me in the face with something fresh. It took until the last week of the month, but I’m ecstatic to say I finally found it in the form of Ibibio Sound Machine’s Electricity.
The record is the fourth outing for the London-based Afrofuturist collective fronted by Eno Williams, who spent a lot of her childhood in Nigeria and sings in a mix of English and Ibibio, a language native to the southern region of the country. As someone who listens to lyrics secondarily, I love records in a foreign language. It allows the listener to view the voice as another instrument fully, and Williams’s phenomenal efforts match the energy of the clubby music.
Opener “Protection From Evil” is a perfect example of this - building around PK Ambrose’s plucked bass and Alfred “Kari” Bannerman’s well-placed guitar stabs, Williams weaves in and out in Ibibio before shouting the refrain, “Spiritual, invisible, protection from evil.” Everything comes together in a cacophonic fervor that pays off with the horn section work from Tony Hayden, Max Grunhard, and Scott Baylis.
Electronics have always played a role in Ibibio Sound Machine’s unique blend of influences. Still, Electricity is a perfect title for this record. The band has brought along Al Doyle and Joe Goddard of the veteran indie electronic group Hot Chip to breathe a new direction into the project. Fans of Hot Chip will instantly recognize their programming work on the title track and keyboards on the sawing “Casio (Yak Nda Nda).”
Other standouts include “All That You Want” which mashes up Lizzo and LCD Soundsystem (right on!), the deep house grooves of “Wanna See Your Face Again,” and my favorite, the pulsing “17 18 19.”
The record doesn’t slow down often, but when it does, the lulls in the breakneck pace of Electricity are most welcome. “Afo Ken Doko Mien” allows Williams to layer in a choir supported by dreamy keys gorgeously, and “Almost Flying” saves some of the best work for the album’s back half.
Ibibio Sound Machine is effortlessly cool, and their mashup of Afro-pop, electronica, punk, and disco is unlike anything else you’ve heard this year. With sunnier days ahead, I know Electricity will be a significant part of your spring once you give this beauty a spin.
Electricity is available now on Merge Records.
