Ezra Collective: Here Because Of Hope (Transparent Ocean Blue Colour Vinyl) (2LP)

"Here Because Of Hope" by Ezra Collective is the most ambitious and personal album of their career to date. Conceived as a work divided into three spiritual and geographical sections, the album traces the journey of the Black community across continents and decades, from the music of Africa to the rhythms of the Caribbean to the streets of London. Founded in London’s youth clubs, Mercury Prize and BRIT Award winners Femi Koleoso, TJ Koleoso, Joe Armon-Jones, James Mollison, and Ife Ogunjobi have been turning jazz into a joyful, haunting, and irresistible experience for over a decade. On “Here Because Of Hope,” they take this vision further than ever before and pose a simple yet profound question: Why does so much Black music, born of pain, sound so joyful? Their answer is hope: the belief, passed down across generations and oceans, that something better is possible. Drawing on collaborations with Pa Salieu, Lila Iké, and Leona Lewis, and with an eye toward the full breadth of the global African diaspora (including the Americas, where these very African and Caribbean roots gave rise to jazz itself), “Here Because Of Hope” is an album of remarkable warmth, ambition, and humanity—and the sound of Britain’s most vibrant band at the height of its creative powers.