Ezra Collective have announced their fourth studio album, ‘Here Because Of Hope’, and shared a new single featuring Pa Salieu. Listen to ‘Only Love’ below.
The London jazz group will release the follow-up to 2024’s ‘Dance, No One’s Watching’ on September 18 via Partisan. Pre-order/pre-save here.
Per a press release, the upcoming 17-track record is an “expansive, emotional and deeply rhythmic” project. The record boasts excerpts read by BAFTA-winning actor Letitia Wright, as well as contributions from Lila Iké, Leona Lewis and Libianca.
‘Here Because Of Hope’ sees Ezra Collective “push the boundaries of contemporary British music while remaining rooted in the community, spirituality and collective energy that has defined them from the very beginning”.
The euphoric ‘Only Love’ marks the band’s first collaboration with Salieu, with both acts’ material being influenced by diasporic identity, rhythm and storytelling.
It is built around West African-inspired grooves, featuring horns and some deeply personal lyrics courtesy of Salieu, and finding beauty in resilience, joy and survival.
Bandleader Femi Koleoso explained: “Pa Salieu has been a musician that we have long admired in Ezra Collective. Not just because of his incredible lyricism and storytelling but also his ability to weave in his Gambian heritage and roots into such a distinctly UK sound.
“In 2024, we had the beautiful moment playing at Wembley Arena, looking out into the crowd and seeing Pa Salieu dancing and partying with his friends and in that moment, I had the very thought we need to make a song together for this kind of setting.
“I spent some time studying West African music, studying Gambian music, and let that influence the bassline of this track and the drumbeat.”
He continued: “We linked up with Pa in Wood Green and immediately his stories started to flow. He came with a bunch of lyrics that he had from a really hard time he went through, but in those lyrics were so many stories of pain but also beauty, joy and love, and we were trying to find that beautiful place in the middle of those two things, and that’s how we came about this song.”
As for ‘Here Because Of Hope’ on the whole, Ezra Collective described the forthcoming record as “really prominent and beautiful”
“It feels like our first records were really Ezra Collective as children; this one really feels like Ezra Collective as adults,” they went on.
“There’s been so many moments of joy, so many moments of excitement, but at the same time, it’s impossible not to look at the world and feel deep pain and sadness, and we were really determined to write an album that still sees the prominent importance and final destination being joy, but also recognises the pain and the momentary difficulties that people are facing.
They added: “This album is the journey from that pain to joy, and the connective word in the middle is hope. We hope that this album makes people dance, we hope it makes people cry. There are stories woven into every single fabric of the record, and those stories [are] most eloquently put by five adults that met as children.”
The tracklist for Ezra Collective’s ‘Here Because Of Hope’ is:
1. ‘Part 1’ (read by Letitia Wright)
2. ‘Blow Your Trumpet’
3. ‘Sweet Echo’
4. ‘Don’t Worry’
5. ‘Only Love’ feat. Pa Salieu
6. ‘Someday’
7. ‘Part 2’ (read by Letitia Wright)
8. ‘Birdie Sings’
9. ‘The Last Stand’
10. ‘Well Organised’ feat. Lila Iké
11. ‘El Corazón’
12. ‘Bunny On The Rise’
13. ‘Part 3’ (read by Letitia Wright)
14. ‘All I Need’ feat. Leona Lewis
15. ‘Jubilee Feeling’
16. ‘Black Flag’
17. ‘Most High’ feat. Libianca
Ezra Collective and Salieu played ‘Only Love’ when they headlined the New Music Stage at Radio 1’s Big Weekend last week. They’ll appear at numerous European and UK festivals this summer, including Lincolnshire’s Lost Village.
The Mercury Prize and BRIT-winning group contributed to this year’s star-studded ‘Help(2)’ charity album for War Child.