Lila Iké Joins Ezra Collective on New Single ‘Well Organised’

Jamaican singer Lila Iké has joined British jazz group Ezra Collective on “Well Organised,” a new single that draws directly from Jamaica’s musical history while placing reggae and dancehall influences within the London group’s jazz framework.

Released in July, the track is the latest preview of Ezra Collective’s fourth studio album, Here Because of Hope. The album is scheduled for release on September 18 through Partisan Records.

“Well Organised” incorporates an interpolation of Max Romeo’s “I Chase The Devil,” one of the best-known recordings from Jamaica’s roots reggae tradition. The track also features steel pan, with bandleader Femi Koleoso explaining that the idea began after he recorded a melody while visiting London’s Kinetika Bloco youth club.

Koleoso said the melody reminded him of “dancehall, bashment, reggae” and other Jamaican sounds. The group subsequently developed the recording into the track before inviting Iké to contribute vocals.

The collaboration places Iké in a project that examines the movement of Black music between Africa, the Caribbean and Britain. According to Ezra Collective, Here Because of Hope explores the musical connections created through that movement and the communities that carried those traditions across generations.

For Iké, the recording adds another international collaboration to a catalogue that has increasingly moved between reggae and wider contemporary music.

Her involvement also gives the song a direct connection to Jamaica rather than relying solely on references to the island’s musical history. The use of Max Romeo’s work and the addition of Iké’s vocals make Jamaican music part of the recording’s central musical structure.

The connection between Ezra Collective and Jamaican music is not new. The London group’s work has incorporated elements of reggae, calypso, Afrobeat, hip-hop and other forms of Black music. Their new album continues that approach, with Jamaican and Caribbean influences forming part of a broader musical narrative.

The project arrives as Iké continues work following her debut album, Treasure Self Love, which was released in 2025 and received a Grammy nomination in the reggae category.

Ezra Collective’s new record is also being presented around a broader theme of hope and the relationship between hardship and joy. In a recent Guardian discussion, Koleoso described the album as examining how music can emerge from painful circumstances while creating spaces for collective enjoyment and connection.

“Well Organised” therefore sits at the intersection of several musical histories: Jamaican reggae, Caribbean instrumentation, British jazz and the wider movement of Black music through the diaspora.

For reggae, the collaboration is another example of the genre’s influence being carried into recordings that do not fit neatly within a traditional reggae format. For Iké, it represents a contribution to a project that treats Jamaican music as part of a wider musical lineage rather than an isolated genre.

Here Because of Hope is due September 18.