Ezra Collective Pa Salieu – Only Love (feat. Pa Salieu)
Ezra Collective have announced Here Because of Hope, their fourth studio album, out September 18 via Partisan Records. It follows 2024’s Dance, No One’s Watching, and the first single is “Only Love”, a collaboration with British-Gambian rapper Pa Salieu. The video was filmed in Lagos under the creative direction of Ebenza Blanche.
The track is built around a West African-inspired groove that bandleader Femi Koleoso developed after specifically studying Gambian music: the bassline and drumbeat are both shaped by that research. Pa Salieu brought lyrics from a difficult period in his life, material that carries pain alongside it but also, in Koleoso’s words, “beauty, joy and love.” The two met in Wood Green, stories started flowing, and the track emerged from that. What you hear is the band’s horn-led warmth pressed against Pa’s grounded intensity, and the combination works because neither overpowers the other.
Here Because of Hope is structured as three movements: West Africa, the Caribbean, and the United Kingdom, each devoted to a different geography and its sonic heritage. The album features Lila Iké, Leona Lewis, Libianca, and spoken-word passages from Letitia Wright, and was recorded largely in a week at Miraval in southern France. The five-piece, Femi Koleoso on drums, TJ Koleoso on bass, Joe Armon-Jones on keys, James Mollison on saxophone, Ife Ogunjobi on trumpet, have described it as the first record they’ve made as adults. “Only Love” makes that feel like more than a press quote.
Europe / UK / Ireland
- 06/26/26 / Brussels, Belgium / Couleur Café Festival
- 06/27/26 / Heidelberg, Germany / Metropolink
- 07/03/26 / Lewes, UK / Love Supreme Festival
- 07/08/26 / Henley, UK / Henley Festival
- 07/09/26 / Marseille, France / Jazz Des Cinq Continents Festival
- 07/10/26 / Barcelona, Spain / Cruilla Festival
- 07/18/26 / Köniz, Switzerland / Gurtenfestival
- 08/01/26 / Waterford, Ireland / All Together Festival
- 08/07/26 / Agrigento, Italy / Festivalle
- 08/09/26 / Locorotondo, Italy / Locus Festival
- 08/15/26 / Gothenburg, Sweden / Way Out West
- 08/30/26 / Lincoln, UK / Lost Village
North America
- 08/23/26 / Los Angeles, CA, USA / LA Jazz Festival
Asia / Australia
- 10/03/26 / Sydney, Australia / Move My Way SYD
- 10/04/26 / Melbourne, Australia / Move My Way MEL
- 10/08/26 / Seoul, South Korea / YES24 Livehall
- 10/13/26 / Tokyo, Japan / Toyosu Pit
