What it sounds like is a band that has found its groove and knows how to run with it in any direction it pleases. Ibibio Sound Machine is now in full control of its sound, and it’s that knowledge that allows the group to truly let loose.
Uyai builds on its predecessor's invigorating melange of highlife, disco, funk and electronica with even more assured musicality and social consciousness.
Eno Williams and crew up the ante on all fronts for Uyai; the percussion races forward while the arrangements are busier and more ambitious, each tune twisting and turning through rhythm changes and back-to-back riffs like a living thing.
Their music, now as then, retains all the ebullient joy of their West African heritage and all the subversion of the London underground circles where their time is predominantly spent.
Ibibio Sound Machine's Uyai is the grand and adventurous Afro-Funk album I wanted their self-titled debut to be.
Largely ‘Uyai’ stands as a genre meshing oddity which, thanks to its pure groove and spirituality, will appeal to those who haunt the dance floor as well as their own dimly lit bedrooms.
Uyai is a fine, boundary-pushing follow-up to an arresting debut.
Led by singer Eno Williams, Uyai becomes a wildly diverse mix of global sounds whose focus this time has turned to themes of liberation, power, and beauty—specifically that of women.
#29 | / | The Needle Drop |
#48 | / | PopMatters |
#98 | / | Bandcamp Daily |
#99 | / | Rough Trade |