EZRA COLLECTIVE ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM SHARES NEW SINGLE & VIDEO “LIFE GOES ON” (FEAT. SAMPA THE GREAT)
WHERE I’M MEANT TO BE DUE NOVEMBER 4TH VIA PARTISAN RECORDS
Following their summer-ready single “Victory Dance” in June, Ezra Collective officially announces their forthcoming album Where I’m Meant To Be, out November 4th on Partisan Records. Alongside the announcement, the band also shares the project’s lead track “Life Goes On,” featuring Sampa The Great as well as a nod to the 1972 Fela Kuti record “Shakara Oloje.” The accompanying music video is directed by Nathan Miller and shot on location in London and Lusaka.
“London meets Lusaka. Moments of Joy, moments of struggle, but United in a spirit that we must carry on. Life must go on,” states the band describing their inspiration behind the new track. “We write our music with a consistent will to push the boundaries of what we can mix jazz with. This incorporates the energies of southern African vibes, mixed with our own style of London jazz. And no better person to voice this beauty than the queen, Sampa the Great.”
Where I’m Meant To Be is a thumping celebration of life, an affirming elevation in the Ezra Collective’s winding hybrid sound and refined collective character. With its album cover referencing Thelonious Monk’s Underground, the songs marry cool confidence with bright energy. Full of call-and-response conversations between their ensemble parts, a natural product of years improvising together on-stage, the album – which also features Sampa The Great, Kojey Radical, Emile Sande and Nao – will light up sweaty dance floors and soundtrack summer dinners in equal measure.
The band’s 2019 debut album You Can’t Steal My Joy seamlessly married the delicacies and classic sounds of jazz with afrobeat, hip-hop and dancehall rhythms for a sound that cemented them as one of the UK’s most exciting acts among the country’s burgeoning jazz resurgence. With the project, the band was named one of Rolling Stone’s great musical discoveries from SXSW, one of Pigeons & Plane’s best rising bands to listen to, and one of the liveliest groups in London by The New York Times based on their own fresh and imaginative spin on jazz’s timeless footprint.
Check out “Life Goes On” above, see full album details below and stay tuned for more from Ezra Collective coming soon.