Dance, No One's Watching

Ezra Collective won the U.K.'s 2023 Mercury Prize for Where I'm Meant to Be, a collision of dancefloor jazz-funk and grooves that won the ears of club punters and critics alike. Dance, No One's Watching celebrates the dancefloors the band encountered while touring the world in 2023. For EC, these club shows, from London to Lagos, Sidney to Ibiza, from Detroit and Chicago to New York City and Los Angeles. That said, this isn't a celebration of hedonism, but of groove and cultural awareness brought about by dancing in community. The set is mostly instrumental, and also offers several vocal jams. Further, these compositions range across Latin, Afrobeat, post-bop, dub reggae, ska, soul, funk, contemporary jazz, and more. The short "Intro" emerges with found conversation in a dance club before a dubwise reggae whispers it out. It's followed by the hard-charging Afrobeat "The Herald." The fraternal rhythm section of Femi (drums) and TJ Koleoso (bass) drives a furious groove as the horn section (trumpeter Ife Ogunjobi and saxophonist James Mollison) offers a theme that carves space for a killer trumpet solo. "Palm Wine/Cloakroom Link Up" is beautiful intersection of Nigerian highlife, sophisticated U.K. funk, and Afrobeat. Joe Armon-Jones' piano solo adds a contemporary jazz dimension. Vocalist Yazmin Lacey joins the band on the glorious collision of highlife and neo-soul in the sultry "God Gave Me Feet for Dancing." The buoyant "Ajala," arguably the album's finest cut, is anchored by a furious Congo-funk bass line, frenetic percussion, and blissed-out keyboards that frame layered, overdubbed horns and guitars. On "N29," a spacey weave of Armon-Jones' Rhodes and Koleoso's bass playing a circular pattern atop his brother's sexy, breaking rim shots fills and accents in a striking example of 21st century soul-jazz. "Hear My Cry" is a curveball as it weds dancefloor funk and soca rhythms with powerful drumming and a distorted two-note synth vamp. "Shaking Body" is a gorgeous exercise in Afro-Cuban salsa as it extends to Anglo funk. Vocalist extraordinaire Olivia Dean takes the lead on "No One's Watching Me/Our Element," joining dubwise, horn-drenched reggae and jazzy neo-soul. "Streets Is Calling" features M.anifest and Moonchild Sanelly alternating raps over a slippery, punk jazz dub. The album slows down as it nears its close. "Why I Smile" is introduced by a limpid bassline and Armon-Jones' acoustic piano, offering arpeggiated post-bop runs inside dubwise horns and a rim-shot snare beat, while "Have Patience" is a gorgeous piano ballad. It introduces closer "Everybody," wherein Armon-Jones' trademark lyricism is offered in rounds that eventually bring in hushed strings, horns, drums, and bass. The tempo and harmony increase until the band carries them out with harmonic majesty. Dance, No One's Watching is an ambitious step forward from Where I'm Meant to Be, and a musical extension of its creativity. In all, it proves Ezra Collective's prize-winning debut was no fluke. Look for this killer set to make many year-end lists -- and soundtrack the dancefloors in clubs internationally. ~ Thom Jurek