Pull the Rope, the new record by Ibibio Sound Machine, comes to colour-in-colour splatter mix LP, limited to 350 copies and hand-numbered to order. The hope, joy, and sexiness of their music remain, but, further honing the edge of their acclaimed 2022 albumElectricity, the connection they aim to foster has shifted venues from the sunny buoyancy of a sunlit festival to a sweat-soaked, all-night dance club. Williams and Grunhard attribute this shift to a matter of collaborators, recordingPull the Rope with Sheffield-based 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.

Rather than recording with the full band in the room,Pull the Ropewas sculpted, elements added and shaped by Grunhard, Williams, and Orton along the way. As a result,Pull the Ropeis 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, post-punk, 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 along the 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. The sound ofPull 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.