The first release from Ezra Collective's new album Here Because Of Hope comes with the first music video from Ebeneza Blanche in ages. It's a series of beautifully-realised vignettes filmed in Nigerian capital Lagos that establishes the visual identity for the album, conceived by Blanche in his role as creative director, through inspired composition, performance and narrative.  

The video for Only Love features rapper Pa Salieu and follows a young pure water seller navigating the rhythms of everyday life in Lagos. Themes of ancestry, culture and community are reflected in the vignettes that Blanche has carefully devised around the narrative, using symbolic details and dynamic movement, also drawing from photography, documentary observation and fine art composition, to create an uplifting vision that's both timeless and contemporary.

It is the style that we have seen in his acclaimed work for Little Simz's Point And Kill and Jae5's Dimension with Skepta - both shot in West Africa. And it establishes the framework and tone for the ensuing album campaign that will include more music videos, an accompanying short film and photography, all under Blanche's creative direction.

It is designed as a visual extension of the album, translating Ezra Collective's sound into a cinematic world, and reflect the driving force of the album Here Because Of Hope, celebrating optimism, cultural pride and the enduring human capacity to move forward. This opening chapter does exactly that.