Ezra Collective
Here Because of Hope
PARTISAN
It’s hard to overemphasize just how popular Ezra Collective are in the UK. The London-based quintet were the first-ever jazz act to sell out Wembley Arena, they’ve won the prestigious Mercury Prize, and have ascended to festival headliner status. They’re probably the most successful jazz act to have arisen from the nation’s rainy shores, and have quickly become the shining jewel in the fertile UK jazz scene’s crown. Since the early 2010s, that scene (“UK jazz” is a loose term that incorporates hip-hop, funk, Afrobeats, and club music) has produced a relentless stream of innovative music. In the process, the stuffy and predominantly white image the genre had developed was scrubbed away and painted over with something cool, exciting, and firmly in touch with its Black roots.
As the scene’s biggest name, Ezra Collective epitomize everything about this nascent genre’s development with their light-on-its-feet, genre-hopping, and celebratory sound. Regarding their triumphant new album Here Because of Hope, drummer Femi Koleoso has talked about how the band started “obsessing” over a number of Black genres “where the story is painful, but the result is this dance floor feeling.” It’s a fascinating sociocultural notion to ponder: Sounds ranging from grime to calypso were created by musicians who’d sunk into poverty and war, yet the genres possess upbeat, vibrant, sometimes ecstatic tonal palettes. Compare these styles to genres such as emo and nu-metal—downbeat and angry rock music born from privileged Western milieus—and the picture becomes even more intriguing.
The 17 breezy tracks heard on Here Because of Hope are fascinating explorations of this dichotomy. Ezra Collective’s fourth album is deeply jubilant, from the trumpet-led Afrobeat of “Bunny on the Rise” to the gently electrifying jazz-funk of “Don’t Worry.” Yet the record also possesses an acute emotional undercurrent. It’s subtle, but Ezra Collective tap into something poignant, starting with the title. Hope is an inherently bittersweet thing: Something will be made right, but we’re not there yet. Track titles like “Blow Your Trumpet” and “The Last Stand” are battle-hardened, determined to mend what’s broken, while “All I Need” and “Only Love” are sanguine. Crucially, both strands are emotionally sensitive, determined to heal while acknowledging pain.
The band’s music is equally soulful. “Someday” is wistful and pretty, reggae closer “Most High” contains gorgeous guest vocals from Libianca, and “All I Need” boasts the lightest of touches as it sweeps you up in its visions, where the band and guest vocalist Leona Lewis have “found heaven.” An extremely easy-to-love album, Here Because of Hope is a heartfelt marvel. Its fusion of escapist, genre-bending fantasias and heartfelt odes to better tomorrows makes for a wonderfully singular combination. This is music of the most humanist sort—aware of the struggles, but never once titling its steely focus from a joyous, compassionate celebration of life.
