Here Because of Hope‘s cover art depicts three young boys wrestling with the personal demons of our age – whether to see, hear or speak to the chaos which engulfs us is a choice with few happy permutations. Ezra Collective are clearly aware that many people spend much of their energy holding back the darkness, but the title of their fourth album is beyond empty symbolism; instead on it they make the idea of hope a practice rather than simply just a word.
The quintet find themselves as one of the UK’s biggest best kept secrets. Formed in the London at the beginning of the last decade, they had the benefit of being able to grow through it’s network of youth clubs, churches and performance spaces, members Femi Koleoso, his brother TJ Koleoso, Joe Armon-Jones, James Mollison and trumpeter Ife Ogunjobi drawing on the capital’s prodigious musical diversity, to serious effect.
Latterly the results of their progression have been outstanding; 2022’s Where I’m Meant To Be becoming the first Jazz-centric album win the Mercury Prize whilst its follow-up – Dance, No One’s Watching – landed in the Top 10. They added a BRIT Award for Group Of The Year in 2025.
Here Because Of Hope presents an exhilarating chapter in their musical journey: Sweet Echo’s Afrobeat, Birdie Sings’ Kingston horns, El Corazon’s calypso, Jubilee Feeling’s funky house and Black Flag’s acid jazz and drum ’n’ bass all add to its globe-spanning energy. Leona Lewis lends soul to All I Need, while Lila Ike features on the steel-pan-led Well Organised. You might be here for all sorts of reasons, but whilst you are, enjoy yourselves.
You can read a full review here.
The Voice Of Unreason 