Ibeyi continue their search for magic on Spell 31

Lisa-Kaindé and Naomi Diaz, the French Afro-Cuban twin sisters in Ibeyi, have spent the past eight years making soulful alternative R&B that honors womanhood, ancestry, and communal spirituality across the Black diaspora. The duo have long been familiar with the painful reality of death; they lost their father, famed Cuban percussionist Miguel “Angá” Díaz, when they were 11, and their sister Yanira passed away a few years later. Rather than face death with fear or uncertainty, the songs on their third and latest album, last year’s Spell 31 (XL), act as a healing channel that connects them to the sisters’ lineage and heritage.

With each new record Ibeyi have grown as musicians and songwriters, and on Spell 31 they embody an infectious exuberance for love and connection. Album highlight “Sister 2 Sister” is a jovial, anthemic dedication to the sisters’ lifelong bond, celebrating the power they continue to draw from each other through their music. In their June performance of the song on Jools Holland, Lisa-Kaindé and Naomi could barely hold back wide-mouthed grins and bursts of laughter as they sang into each other’s eyes and reached for each other’s hands. Their October single, “Juice of Mandarins,” carries on in that uplifting vein—it’s a tender, sensory ode to a lover’s closeness, dizzying and disruptive in its delight. Ibeyi find euphoria and strength in the physical and nonphysical worlds they inhabit. They can’t help but see magic all around them, and they conjure it in turn through their music.