The Hip Abduction

The Hip Abduction, a Florida-based ensemble, fuse reggae, West African rhythms, and buoyant indie pop into their luminous sound. The six-piece group came together in St. Petersburg in 2010, shaping its energetic style through the members’ shared drive to combine music from sun-drenched regions across the globe with sturdy, hook-driven pop frameworks. That approach first surfaced on the 2011 debut One Less Sound, an album born from the band’s earliest jam sessions and marked by a freer texture than the tighter self-titled follow-up issued in 2013. Adding bright synth-pop layers to their globally rooted palette, David New (lead vocals, guitar), Chris Powers (bass), Dave Johnson (baritone and tenor sax), Sean Fote (keyboards), Matt Poynter (drums, vocals), and John Holt III (kamale ngoni, guitar, vocals) journeyed to Nashville to track their third album alongside producer Dabney Morris. The resulting Gold Under the Glow appeared in 2016, displaying a sweeping scope that spotlighted the group’s foundational elements while incorporating a sleeker modern pop sensibility.