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Mar 07, 2022 By Mark Redfern Photography by Jeremy De Luna

English electronic Afro-funk band Ibibio Sound Machine are releasing a new Hot Chip-produced album, Electricity, on March 25 via Merge. Now they have shared its fourth single, “17 18 19,” which a press release says is “a song that strives for greater communication during difficult times.” Listen below.

The band collectively had this to say about the song in a press release: “This is more of a traditional style Ibibio Sound Machine track which came out of a studio jam we had. Eno’s vocal is based around a Nigerian playground chant that seemed to fit perfectly with the playful sound of the instrumental. The lyrics are rhetorically questioning the seemingly meaningless words that come out of the mouths of people, with reference to certain world events of the day. We reworked the drum track with Hot Chip, taking it down more of a post-punk route with a bit of a nod to Tom Tom Club.”

Last October, the band shared the album’s title track, which was one of our Songs of the Week. Then in January when they announced the album they shared its second single, “All That You Want.” Then they shared its third single, the fierce and funky “Protection From Evil,” via a video for the song. “Protection From Evil” was one of our Songs of the Week.

The band’s most recent album, Doko Mien, came out in 2019 via Merge.

In a previous press release, Hot Chip had this to say about working with Ibibio Sound Machine and frontwoman Eno Williams: “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. 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.”

Listen to our Why Not Both? podcast interview with Ibibio Sound Machine.

Ibibio Sound Machine 2022 Tour Dates:

Mar 30 Bath, UK – Forum
Mar 31 Worthing, UK – The Venue
Apr 01 Manchester, UK – Band on the Wall
Apr 03 Birmingham, UK – The Castle & Falcon
Apr 07 Newcastle, UK – Wylam Brewery
Apr 08 Glasgow, UK – St. Luke’s
Apr 09 Leeds, UK – Belgrave Music Hall
Apr 14 London, UK – Electric Ballroom

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