Ezra Collective announce their brand-new fourth studio album, Here Because of Hope, alongside the release of its first single, 'Only Love'.
The announcement comes fresh off of headlining the new music stage at BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend. set for release on September 18 via Partisan Records Here Because of Hope marks the beginning of a bold new chapter for Ezra Collective, arriving after a historic few years that saw the band become the first jazz act to win the Mercury Prize before going on to win the BRIT Award for Group of the Year. Expansive, emotional and deeply rhythmic, the album captures a band continuing to 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. With excerpts read by BAFTA-winning actor Letitia Wright, the album will include features from Pa Salieu, Lila Iké, Leona Lewis and Libianca.
The album’s first single, ‘Only Love’, sees Ezra Collective join forces with Pa Salieu for the very first time, uniting two artists whose music is deeply shaped by diasporic identity, rhythm and storytelling. Built around West African-inspired grooves, euphoric horns and Pa’s deeply personal lyricism, the track finds beauty in resilience, joy and survival.
Listen to ‘Only Love’ on the Premier League playlist.
Speaking on the track, bandleader Femi Koleoso says “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. 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.”
Here Because of Hope is expansive, emotional and deeply rhythmic, the album captures a band continuing to 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. With excerpts read by BAFTA-winning actor Letitia Wright, the album will include features from the aforementioned Pa Salieu, as well as Lila Iké, Leona Lewis and Libianca.
Reflecting on the album, Ezra Collective say, “our fourth offering is a really prominent and beautiful time because it feels like our first records were really Ezra Collective as children, this one really feels like Ezra Collective as adults. 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.
“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 most eloquently put by 5 adults that met as children.”
