{"product_id":"ibukun-sunday-olusin-worshippers","title":"Ibukun Sunday - Olùsìn [Worshippers]","description":"\u003cp\u003eNew album by acclaimed Nigerian ambient producer \/ sound designer \u003cstrong\u003eIbukun Sunday\u003c\/strong\u003e, interweaving Africanised rhythm with lush and elegant synthesis. The record, writes Sunday, “draws inspiration from African devotional traditions, blending percussion, vocal harmony, and ambient soundscapes to create ‘a soundtrack of praise,’ centering on the idea that faith has its own music: the drumbeat of hearts, the chorus of voices, and the silence between notes.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"993\" data-end=\"1682\"\u003eA native of Lagos and now based in north London, Ibukun Sunday has carved himself an essential niche in African music, uniting long-practiced traditions with the gauzy synthesis of contemporary ambient music, weaving his compositions with field recordings from his homeland and deeply considered philosophies of existence, humanity, and faith. \u003cem data-start=\"1337\" data-end=\"1359\"\u003eOlúsín [Worshippers]\u003c\/em\u003e builds on a sound he has cultivated over a series of releases for Phantom Limb and, earlier, its digital-only imprint Spirituals. Elegant repeating motifs, ghostly choral drones, subtly emerging rhythms, and fizzing sonics coalesce into a drawn-out devotional experience that highlights isolation even in communal worship.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1684\" data-end=\"2094\"\u003eUnsurprisingly, Sunday is a keenly trained musician. He has studied the viola since childhood and performed in numerous ensembles ranging from chamber to orchestral over years of close symbiosis with the instrument. This depth of rigorous knowledge underpins a refined ear for melody, harmonic architecture, and songcraft, his compositions achieving profound emotional redolence even from their small palettes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"2096\" data-end=\"2516\"\u003eOpening single \u003cem data-start=\"2111\" data-end=\"2119\"\u003e“Amen”\u003c\/em\u003e begins with a skittering vocal sample in thick West African accent, its sibillants taking on an evolving rhythm as an angelic chorus of synths resemble church organ and heavenly voices to evoke “both the energy of gathered praise and the intimacy of personal devotion,” Sunday explains. It billows and swells at a thick and glacial pace until reaching a solemn cadence in reflection of its title.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"2518\" data-end=\"2974\"\u003eLater, \u003cem data-start=\"2525\" data-end=\"2533\"\u003e“Edge”\u003c\/em\u003e is built from Karplus-Strong pizzicati that lay and overlay against a shimmering and slowly growing backdrop, sunlight gently illuminating a celestial stained glass window. “I wanted to honour the way music carries prayer, the way a drum can feel like a heartbeat shared by a whole community,” writes Sunday. While the piece is generated from rhythm, it is characterised by subtlety and nuance, the habitat never outshining the inhabitants.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"2976\" data-end=\"3380\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\"\u003eIbukun Sunday is a solo electronic musician and violist from Lagos, Nigeria. He released two albums with Phantom Limb’s digital-only imprint Spirituals, and 2024 debut album \u003cem data-start=\"3150\" data-end=\"3169\"\u003eHarmony \/ Balance\u003c\/em\u003e, which enjoyed acclaim as unique and powerful works of experimental ambient music. Onstage, he has performed alongside \u003cstrong data-start=\"3289\" data-end=\"3308\"\u003eRichard Skelton\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong data-start=\"3310\" data-end=\"3326\"\u003eDylan Henner\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong data-start=\"3328\" data-end=\"3344\"\u003eTunde Jegede\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong data-start=\"3346\" data-end=\"3367\"\u003eGabriel Prokofiev\u003c\/strong\u003e, and others.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"35\" data-end=\"101\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"35\" data-end=\"101\"\u003e“Throbs and glistens with a quietly ecstatic joy”\u003cbr data-start=\"84\" data-end=\"87\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem data-start=\"87\" data-end=\"101\"\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan aria-hidden=\"true\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"103\" data-end=\"266\"\u003e“Perfect harmonies and piercing synths rise together…[Sunday] can pull a lineage of human experience into view with a chord change…Mesmerising”\u003cbr data-start=\"246\" data-end=\"249\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem data-start=\"249\" data-end=\"266\"\u003eThe Ransom Note\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"268\" data-end=\"457\"\u003e“Draws on raw field recordings, uses bird calls as a slow percussive element…A sense of deep unease weighs heavily, but there’s also room for lightness, too.”\u003cbr data-start=\"426\" data-end=\"429\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem data-start=\"429\" data-end=\"457\"\u003eBandcamp, Album of the Day\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Phantom Limb","offers":[{"title":"Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":58433041138009,"sku":"SDZ-48062","price":27.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0588\/3455\/0945\/files\/0044758714_10.jpg?v=1782815165","url":"https:\/\/spindizzyrecords.com\/products\/ibukun-sunday-olusin-worshippers","provider":"Spindizzy Dublin","version":"1.0","type":"link"}