Ibibio Sound Machine share 'The Pot Is on Fire' from their Merge debut Uyai, out March 3rd. The song, which was debuted by Lauren Laverne on 6Music, is a food dance that celebrates the “happy place” when the food will be ready soon. “It’s also metaphorical,” frontwoman Eno Williams writes. “Something is brewing which will soon bear fruit.”
Ibibio Sound Machine is a clash of African and electronic elements inspired in equal measure by the golden era of West African funk, disco, modern post-punk, and electro. The album title Uyai means “beauty” in Ibibio language and refers to the strength and free spirit of women in general and, in particular, the courage of the women in Eno’s family, to whom she often refers in her writing.
“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,” the band explains. “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.”
