Ibibio Sound Machine have released their sixth album, Chopping Mountain, via Merge Records. The London collective will take it out on a headline UK tour starting on 2 October in Bristol and finishing on 25 November at Islington Assembly Hall, with extra UK and EU dates now confirmed for 2027.
Built through live jams, rhythmic experiments and instinctive interplay, Chopping Mountain finds the band at their most connected and restless. It swings from the disco rush of “When You Want to Dance” to the spiritual intensity of “Return to Sender”, opening the sound back up after the Hot Chip produced Electricity and the darker, club focused Pull the Rope.
At the heart of the title track is a message of collective power, the idea that even the smallest action can eventually bring about monumental change. Frontwoman Eno Williams says: “Whether you are a humble pebble standing in front of a mountain or the mountain itself, remember that the power of a thrown pebble making a ripple in the lake will one day topple the mountain in front of it!”
Recorded mainly at the band’s own Vanguard Studios in South London, this is the first Ibibio Sound Machine album produced by saxophonist and keyboard player Max Grunhard since 2019’s Doko Mien. Around Williams, Grunhard, Alfred Bannerman, PK Ambrose, Joseph Amoako, Afla Sackey, Scott Baylis and Tony Hayden lock in as a tight unit, pulling on West African highlife, post punk, Afrobeat, soul and electronic music.
Many of the songs began in the rehearsal room, continuing the collaborative approach first explored on Pull the Rope. “Give Me Peace”, featuring Dele Sosimi of Fela Kuti’s Egypt 80, grew from the chant “Give me peace, give me freedom, give me love with a kiss”. Williams and Grunhard say: “It’s about finding calm in a world that is trying to tear us down. Once we established that direction, the song seemed to write itself.”
“Return to Sender” was inspired by a car accident in which Williams felt the steering wheel jump out of her hands, which she likened to “a spiritual attack by unseen forces”. The track is a cathartic rejection of evil in English and her native Ibibio. Elsewhere, “Concept of Love” poses the question “What is your concept of love?” over Afro disco, a Bannerman guitar solo and horn stings from Baylis, while “Love” delivers an ethereal slice of highlife.
The record has already drawn strong notices. The Times called it “an album that finds the sweet spot between cosmic jazz and gritty funk”, Songlines said it “could take the band to a new level of popularity”, and i Paper described a “vibrant set centred on connection, resistance and hope.” Last summer the group brought that live energy to Wychwood Festival and Love Trails on the Gower.
They are already on the road, having played Phe Festival in Tenerife on 5 September, with Down at the Abbey in Reading on 12 September. Support on selected October dates comes from Ziyad Al-Samman, with AK/DK joining them in Brighton. Further 2027 headline shows have been added in Berlin, Paris, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Glasgow, Manchester and beyond.
Ibibio Sound Machine on tour:
- 5 September: Phe Festival, Santa Cruz De Tenerife
- 12 September: Down at the Abbey, Reading
- 2 October: Lantern Hall, Bristol (with Ziyad Al-Samman)
- 3 October: Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff (with Ziyad Al-Samman)
- 7 October: Hare & Hounds, Birmingham (with Ziyad Al-Samman)
- 9 October: Button Factory, Dublin (with Ziyad Al-Samman)
- 10 October: Future Yard, Birkenhead (with Ziyad Al-Samman)
- 15 October: Concorde 2, Brighton (with AK/DK)
- 16 October: Cowley Workers Social Club, Oxford
- 22 October: Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle Upon Tyne
- 23 October: Liquid Rooms, Edinburgh
- 24 October: Rescue Rooms, Nottingham (with Ziyad Al-Samman)
- 25 October: Musicport Festival, Whitby
- 20 November: Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
- 21 November: Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
- 25 November: Islington Assembly Hall, London
- 29 January 2027: The Red Theatre, The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi
- 12 February 2027: Gretchen, Berlin
- 2 April 2027: Esquires, Bedford
- 3 April 2027: The Totnes Civic Hall, Totnes
- 9 April 2027: Papillon, Southampton
- 10 April 2027: The Cornish Bank, Falmouth
- 14 April 2027: Hasard Ludique, Paris
- 15 April 2027: Trix, Antwerp
- 18 April 2027: Paradiso (Upstairs), Amsterdam
- 24 April 2027: Norwich Arts Centre, Norwich
- 14 May 2027: Junction 2, Cambridge
- 15 May 2027: Boiler Room, Guildford
- 20 May 2027: The Crescent, York
- 21 May 2027: Classic Grand, Glasgow
- 22 May 2027: O2 Ritz, Manchester
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