Doko Mien

ISM are most successful when they pare down their maximalist tendencies--on Guess We Found a Way, for instance, a syrupy Scritti Politti-esque ballad spiked with shards of squintingly bright highlife guitar, or the gorgeous I Will Run, which pairs heavenly gospel vocal harmonies with sci-fi synths. It’s on these occasions, when the band’s pan-continental fusion feels casual and classy rather than hyperactively overblown.

Taken as a whole, Doko Mien is two things at once: An assertive collection of forceful dance tunes that defies listeners to sit still, and the most sonically ambitious offering in Ibibio Sound Machine's catalog.

Doko Mien largely sticks to this same palette of funk and retro electropop, but adds sophisticated depth with languid numbers that let Williams show a different end of her tonal range.

While the music loses nothing in its thrilling Afro-electro rhythms and horn flecked grooves, this time it’s delivered with an increased universality as Ibibio Sound System broaden out their lyrical approach to be more direct and questioning, addressing their own community as well as the world at large.

In the wrong hands this mish-mash could be a colossal disaster, but delivered through the inimitable vocals and presence of Eno Williams, it melds gracefully. [Apr 2019, p.31]

Occasionally Ibibio Sound Machine venture a little too far into the wilderness with some slightly half-baked R'n'B and a rather meandering slow number, but they’ve taken risks and for the vast majority of this superb record, it has paid dividends.

If Uyai was Ibibio Sound Machine darting breathlessly from one sonic landscape to the next, Doko Mien is the band with a more focused approach and a sharpened sound, one that takes the best elements of their inimitable stylistic cocktail, and stamps it with a striking vibrancy and irresistible funk.

With moderately different production, a lot of this would probably sound significantly tougher, but one gets the sense that studio slickness has rendered it a little toothless, blunting what could be a much sharper edge. [Apr 2019, p.68]

ISM have stepped away from the traditional Ibibio folk tales that formed the lyrics for much of their debut album, instead relying more on English lyrics and universal themes. Only ‘She Work Very Hard’ displays the kind of storytelling that made those songs so intriguing, and it’s here where the boundaries between tradition and future are most blurred.

Building on the fresh inventiveness of 2017's Uyai, this new album cheerfully chops up and reassembles genres in a way that is seriously funky. [May 2019, p.89]