“Dance, No One’s Watching is a statement of freedom” says Femi Koleoso of Ezra Collective, “this record says that you can be who you want to be, regardless of what’s around you, regardless of what people are saying, because on a deeper level – no one is watching. Don’t let the perspective of someone else steal your joy.”

Since forming in 2012, the five-piece collective – consisting of brothers Femi and TJ Koleoso, Ife Ogunjobi, James Mollison and Joe Armon-Jones – have blossomed into one of Britain’s most eclectic and acclaimed music acts. Their body of work has so far blended sounds that have defined contemporary London. By doing so, the group have become a reflection, as well a product, of the rich array of music, cultures and people who have found their way to the city and made it their home. Now, after a breakout 2023, Ezra Collective are ready to start a new chapter with the release of their third studio album Dance, No One’s Watching.

Dance, No One’s Watching is an ode to the sacred, yet joyous act of dancing, an album that musically guides you through a night out in the city, from the opening of possibilities as a new evening spans out ahead, to dawn’s final hours as the night comes to a close. Captured within is a celebration of the many arenas that hold space for these moments of liberation and freedom. Throughout, an eclectic, accessible, and rich range of sounds, genres and rhythms are woven into union. Together they centre the transcendent power of music, casting a light on the space movement and dance hold within our lives.

Written during a blistering 2023 which saw them tour the world, Dance, No One’s Watching is a documentation of the many dance floors they encountered. From London to Chicago, Lagos to Sydney, dance and rhythm connect us. These songs are a testament to that spirit.

“Albums are meant to be a snapshot. They’re meant to be documentations of the moment,” says Femi. “This record is the documentation of travelling the world with the band. And, one of the things that became a rocket fuel of the band during that time was a crazy feeling of making people dance.”

Growing up influenced by everything from Grime, Pirate Radio stations like Axe FM, cult classic DVDs like Risky Roadz, as well as artists like Skepta and JME who were local royalty in North London, Ezra Collective was ultimately forged and founded at the Tomorrow’s Warriors youth club. In 2012, Femi and TJ ventured to the youth club seeking out the jazz development programme, run by jazz icon Gary Crosby. There they met Mollison and Armon-Jones, and eventually eventually coalesced into a permanent group.

Inspired by the likes of Slum Village and D’Angelo, their early work used jazz as a vessel to melt varied genres into one, fusing hip-hop and salsa, dub and reggae, London’s melting pot of cultures and community being heard in one, unique and refining voice. London again provides the spine of this new album. Though the genres range in influence from the Black Church to Chicago House, the city is there, underscoring everything that is heard and is felt.

“The most London thing you could do is break every single rule,” Femi says. “That to me was the London accent of the record. That’s the ‘home’ element of it. That to me is what makes us Ezra Collective. It’s where that brutal confidence comes from. We’re Londoners.”

At one point a voicenote from Arsenal football legend Ian Wright creeps into earshot. Elsewhere, there are features from some of the city’s most talented artists in Yazmin Lacey on “God Gave me Feet For Dancing” and Olivia Dean on “No One’s Watching”.  “N29”, on the other hand, is a nod to the night bus that crawls from Trafalgar Square back to Enfield. TJ says, “It feels like such an end of the evening song, that journey home.”

Despite this, there are influences broader than their home city. Ghanaian rapper M.anifest and South African singer Moonchild Sanelly guest on late-album highlight “Streets Is Calling”. James says that “The Herald” was inspired by Pharrell and Fela Kuti. Elsewhere, Nigeria is ever present on the record, surfacing in songs like “Ajala” and “Shaking Body”, as well as “Palm Wine”. The latter is inspired by Nigerian and Ghanian highlife, its title a nod to a drink that is a staple of varying West African cultures. The song’s multitudes encapsulate the spirit of the album. “It’s quite a beautiful track,” says Ife, “you can see it in different ways. You can dance to it but it’s also reflective at the same time. There’s layers of depth to the track.”

Ezra Collective’s era defining second album, Where I’m Meant to Be, arrived in 2022, marking the beginning of an historic run for the group. In September 2023 they became the first jazz act to win the Mercury Prize in a historic night at London’s Eventim Apollo. There was a festival-stealing performance at Glastonbury, followed by another historic evening at the Royal Albert Hall in November. It was a full circle moment for the boys. In 2012, during the fledgling years of their career, they had made an early appearance at the venue, taking to the stage for Children Proms organised by the charity Music for Youths. They played for five minutes. “This time we had two hours.” says Femi.

Those memorable nights in London were accompanied by a string of international dates. They travelled the world, Madrid and Hamburg, Copenhagen and Berlin as they skated across Europe, then into Asia with stops in Japan, Thailand, Singapore, and Australia. There were six back-to-back shows at the Blue Note Jazz club in New York City, and performances in California and Canada. This stretch was finally capped off by a career-defining show in Nigeria where they played Fela’s iconic New Afrika Shrine.

Speaking to The Guardian at The Shrine in October 2023, Femi said, “This right now is something even greater than the Mercury prize. I never sat down with a pen and paper and thought: ‘I need to write something to win a Mercury prize,’ but I’ve definitely sat down and thought: ‘I need to get me and my brothers to the Shrine…This is actually who I am in a venue. In music form. It means so, so much. I can’t eloquently put it into words.’”

These travels across worlds and across stages laid the foundation for Dance, No One’s Watching. They fashioned the album while roaming from country to country, continent to continent. They wrote and recorded on tour buses, on planes, on stages, between gigs, during soundchecks. Somebody would send a voice note of a melody, or, when on stage, a band member would play a bassline. From there, a new song would begin to take shape.

As a result, many of the first drafts of songs were named after the locations they were created in, initially carrying titles like ‘Amsterdam soundcheck’ and ‘Chicago’, ‘The Strand’ and ‘Tiny Desk.’

“We were looking at the dance floors while making it,” says Femi. “As humans we don’t realise how similar we look when we’re dancing. Every gig we do, everyone looks the same, because that sense of union is the same. We’ve got it in common. That’s what the album is, all these different places where dancing took place. A bit of Glastonbury, a bit of a house party, a bit of Church.”

When finally back home in London, they piled into Abbey Road studios and pulled this collection of songs into a distinct and cohesive album. Dance, No One’s Watching emerged from those sessions, but not before a special moment during recording where the band was surprised by a group of close friends and family, turning the session into a live communal celebration of love, music, and dancing.

“The entire essence of Ezra collective is built around the world ‘collective’”, says Femi. “It’s a family thing, it’s an inclusive thing. It’s a weird thing that we’ve made so many records where the collective beyond the band wasn’t present. For this record, I’m so grateful that we were able to have the entire family. That’s what’s made it so special.”

Their connection with their supporters remains at the core of the record. During that run of shows in 2023, the band noticed that post-gig, their DMs would swell with messages, waves of people reaching out with tender and heartfelt notes about the healing and joy they had found at the shows. Some would read “I lost my dad two months ago. It was the most painful thing I’ve ever been through, he was my best friend but for the first time since I ever happened I was able to dance like a mad man, and feel joy.” Another read “I don’t dance usually but I felt a freedom there.”

Dance, No One’s Watching, Femi says, encapsulates those testimonies: a trail of music, memories and stages set into stone over 19 songs. It is a record that speaks to the unifying power of dance. Set for release in the fall of 2024, it is a powerful and distinctive addition to a catalogue that continues to blaze a bold new trail in contemporary British music.