Afro-Cuban, French twins Lisa-Kaindé and Naomi Díaz, also known as Ibeyi, today share the fourth single from their imminent third-studio-album Spell 31, out next week on Friday, May 6th, 2022 via XL Recordings. “Rise Above” is a cover of Black Flag’s 1981 formative anthem, performed and reimagined by Ibeyi, their producer Richard Russell and east London musician BERWYN. Having never heard the song, Lisa and Naomi were presented the lyrics in a recording session by their producer Richard Russell and they quickly got to work, looping an old sample of their father’s drums (the late, renowned percussionist Miguel ‘Anga’ Díaz) improvising a new sonic world for lyrics written a decade ago that still resonate today.
Speaking on the song Lisa-Kaindé explains: “We read the lyrics and we immediately felt their relevance to how we felt about the world in its current state. We got to work on the melody and had the full song done in 5 minutes. Jorja Smith heard the track and told us we had to get BERWYN on the song. We had him by the studio to listen to the full album. I left to make tea, upon returning to the studio BERWYN had already written his verse for “Rise Above,” before he had even finished listening to the album. We knew we had something special, what a gift!”
Ibeyi:
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