Ezra Collective - Here Because of Hope (Ltd White Vinyl)(Out 11/9)

Ezra Collective’s ‘Here Because Of Hope’ is the most ambitious andpersonal record of their career.  Conceived as a body of work split into three spiritual andgeographical movements, the album traces the movement of Blackpeople across continents and decades, from the music of Africa to therhythms of the Caribbean, and home to the streets of London.

 Formed in the youth clubs of London, Mercury Prize and BRIT Awardwinners Femi Koleoso, TJ Koleoso, Joe Armon-Jones, JamesMollison and Ife Ogunjobi have now spent over a decade making jazzjoyful, urgent and undeniable. On ‘Here Because Of Hope’, they pushthat vision further than ever, asking a simple but profound question -why does so much Black music born out of pain sound so joyful?Their answer is hope - the belief, carried across generations andoceans, that something better is possible.

 Anchored by collaborations with Pa Salieu, Lila Iké and Leona Lewisand reaching across the full breadth of the global African diaspora(including America, where those same African and Caribbean rootsgave birth to jazz itself) ‘Here Because Of Hope’ is a record ofremarkable warmth, ambition and humanity and the sound of Britain’smost vital band at the peak of their powers.