Afro-fusionist band Ibibio Sound Machine have announced that their new album Uyai will be out on 3rd March, and it’ll be their first record on new label Merge. Meaning “beauty” in the Ibibio language, the album is set to celebrate the courage of women, particularly those in frontwoman Eno Williams’ family, whom she often references in her lyrics.
The band said: “Uyai is a continuation of Ibibio Sound Machine’s story in which the worlds of West African highlife and electronic London collide via the storytelling lyrical thread of Eno’s vocals in the Ibibio language of Nigeria. There is a darker, edgier quality to the sound that maybe reflects the difficult journey the band took from making the first album to completing the second one. The songs are based more around themes of empowerment, freedom, and the liberation of dance for women, and people in general.”
As well as announcing the LP, the group also shared ‘The Pot is on Fire,’ which epitomises the melting pot of influences that go into the band’s sound. It celebrates the literal “happy place” from which food comes from, but is, as Williams, says “also metaphorical.” “Something is brewing which will soon bear fruit,” she says. Listen below.
Ibibio Sound Machine will also be playing three UK dates in March. Details below.
28th March – Band on the Wall, Manchester
30th March – Jazz Café, London
31st March – The Lantern, Bristol
