Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
We are so wrapped up in the sense of appearances that we forget that to dance is not just an act of enjoyment, it is a rite of passage that serves us well long after that first fumbling encounter on the floor of the school hall with the first crush we ever dreamed about. As we move from the sense of the sacred, we become mindful that all eyes are upon us, that to throw caution to the wind and move our bodies to the rhythm at hand is somehow going to cause us to be judged, to be considered, appraised and found wanting.
Dance, No One’s Watching, and even if they should glance your way and catch your eye, treat them to a show, give them every move you got and groove with a smile on your face and a beat in your heart that could not be mistaken for anything other than personal satisfaction of not giving a damn about their opinion, for the music you plough a furrow to on the dance floor is far more interesting than the tedium they offer.
It is a statement and a state of mind that shows Ezra Collective off with superb agility in their brand-new recording, Dance, No One’s Watching, and in this upbeat and aural sensitive beauty, the jazz bombardment is one of outrageous instinct, it is polished and feral, it is fierce and yet cool, unrelenting and yet easy to grasp, and as tracks meld into a narrative of information, into a seamless backdrop of the night air mingled with the images of people who seek out the groove and sweat driven halls, so the allusion is made clear; this is an album to shake off the dust and let the good times swing.
Through moments such as Cloakroom Link Up (Act 1), God Gave Me Feet For Dancing, The Traveller, Shaking Body, Why I Smile, and Streets Is Calling, the expressions founded and declared with genius proclaims the album as one of the modern great of the genre; a utopia of gorgeous sound wrapped in an enigmatic display of cool.
Ezra Collective release Dance, No One’s Watching on 27th September via Partisan.
Ian D. Hall