Description

Pull the Rope, the new record by Ibibio Sound Machine, casts the Eno Williams and Max Grunhardled outfit in a new light. The hope, joy, and sexiness of their music remain, but, further honing the edge of their acclaimed 2022 album Electricity, the connection they aim to foster has shifted venues from the sunny buoyancy of a sunlit festival to a sweatsoaked, allnight dance club.Williams and Grunhard attribute this shift to a matter of collaborators, recording Pull the Rope with Sheffieldbased producer Ross Orton Arctic Monkeys, M.I.A. over the course of two weeks. The way the pair wrote songs changed significantly rather than Eno penning lyrics to music generated by Max and companys jamming, Orton started with Eno and Max writing together before adding the band. With less time in the studioand a new way of considering how they built songs, the duo found making decisions about Pull the Ropes sound quicker and more instinctual than before.Ross is from Sheffield, which has an edgier, more industrial vibe than London, Grunhard explains. He hears things differently than us, is more grounded in rave and grungier sounds, and knew when to add drums or push the instrumentation more. It was very different for us, but it lends itself to where Ibibio Sound Machine is going.In melding their songwriting process, Grunhard and Williams have, impossibly, pulled the trick of making Ibibio Sound Machine a tighter band than ever before, building out from their core in a way that highlights the electrifying group of musicians they play with. Rather than recording with the full band in the room, Pull theRope was sculpted, elements added and shaped by Grunhard, Williams, and Orton along the way. As a result, Pull the Rope is a nimble, sleek machine thats thrilling from the first note of the opening title track, Enos otherworldly voice and PK Ambroses throbbing bass driving through a kaleidoscopic array of house, postpunk, funk, Afrobeat and disco, bangers and ballads, making an argument for unity that begins on the dancefloor. We are the places we grew up, the places weve been, and the people weve met alongthe way, Williams says. Hopping around the globe, weve found that people are fundamentally the same theyre people. Opposing sides push and pull, but there is an alternative to war, violence, and suffering.Lead single Got to Be Who U Are literally globetrots, name checking locales across the world that would feel disparate were it not for how welltraveled they are. Eno growing up in the musical melting pot of the Ibibio region of Nigeria and Max being a conservatorytrained musician from Australia, one could call their meeting in London and formation of Ibibio Sound Machine predestined.Mama Say and Let My Yes Be Yes touch themes of female empowerment. Theyre indicative of the bands depth as they push further into the electronic Mama Say hits notes of electropop while Let My Yes Be Yes fuses electro to Afrobeat. Ibibio Sound Machine have always imbued their music with political consciousness, and the light that shines through in Williams vocals and voice has never felt more necessary. The sound of Pull the Rope, then, is hope in darkness, bliss in spite of bleakness. Once again, Ibibio Sound Machine are here to provide the soundtrack to the best night of your life, and the better world to come. Ibibio Sound Machine Vinyl is available for home delivery from Vinyl Records London, only £26 +P&P