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Ibibio Sound Machine announces new album, ‘Electricity’, produced by Hot Chip

The two groups wanted to collaborate after catching each other's performances at festivals 

Ibibio Sound Machine has announced a new album, ‘Electricity’, which will drop via Merge Records on 25th March. 

It's the first new full-length from the band since 2019's 'Doko Mien', which featured on DJ Mag's list of 2019's best LPs, showcasing the troupe — comprising no less than eight members, including iconic singer Eno Williams — at their electrifying best, marrying West African funk, post-punk, electro, disco, and more. 

'Electricity' is cut from the same genre-spanning cloth, and is the first time the outfit have enlisted external producers for a long-form outing. In this instance, Grammy Awards and Mercury Prize-nominees, Hot Chip. The relationship began with each party watching the other perform at festivals, catalysing ideas for how they could collaborate together. 

"Prior to the sessions, we had run into Ibibio Sound Machine at festivals and loved watching them perform. There are very talented musicians throughout the band, and Eno is a massively charismatic, skilled singer," Hot Chip said. "The sessions were hugely rewarding as Ibibio brought in friends and collaborators to add a wide array of different instruments— some of which were unfamiliar to us. The songs on this record are uniformly great, and we were really happy to be a part of making it."

The title track from 'Electricity' was unveiled late last year, and this has now been followed up with the single, 'All That You Want'. Immediately after the full record drops, Ibibio Sound Machine will hit the road for dates across the UK, including Rough Trade East in London, Bath Komedia, Belgrave Music Hall in Leeds, and Band On the Wall, Manchester, a landmark historic venue that has just completed a £3.5million expansion project. Tickets are on sale now.