Hackney Colliery Band ft: DJ Yoda - Crazy Focus (Single)

Since 2009, east London musical pioneers Hackney Colliery Band have pushed the boundaries of brass band conventions, building a steadfast fanbase with their joyous live shows and slew of heralded releases. Now fifteen years deep into their collective journey, and with some incredible career highlights to note (such as performing to 80,000 people at the opening of the 2012 Olympic Games in London), the 9 piece outfit prepare to announce their 6th full-length offering, the hotly anticipated ‘Collaborations : Volume Two’. Whereas their fifth album ‘Collaborations: Volume One featured a range of World Music legends including Grammy-winning Beninese vocalist Angélique Kidjo and godfather of Ethiopian jazz Mulatu Astatke, ‘Volume Two’ sees HCB focus on songs and singers, alongside a sprinkling of instrumentals featuring harp, guitar, cello, and even conch shells.

The first single lifted from the project ‘Hacked Soul’ is a post-modern soul anthem for the age of AI anxiety, sung and co-written by legendary British-Nigerian singer/songwriter Ola Onabulé. A call to arms for human creative expression, the song begs the question: would AI ever have created a single featuring a brass band playing afrobeat in 13/8, followed by an explosive soulful chorus? And indeed, what AI would ever think to follow a lopsided slice of afro-soul with a jazz manouche-inspired collaboration with virtuoso guitarist Remi Harris? Especially when all anchored by a nine piece brass band. ‘Handmade Flow’ features the incredible virtuoso guitarist Remi Harris, and takes the listener on a journey from a familiar starting point of classic Parisian jazz and into the unknown, with only the sound of Remi’s multiple guitars to lead us. Second single ‘New Opening'’’s layered grooving rhythms features keyboard wizard Joe Armon Jones over HCB’s pulsing rhythm section. Joe releases the brakes in his solo over a fiery mix of powerful brass and slamming drum Third single ‘Crazy Focus’ sees HCB join forces with UK Hip-Hop mainstay DJ Yoda, creating a swaggering and heavy-hitting weapon of brass destruction. Previously-released post-pandemic single ‘Flood’ is a state of the nation cry for help and features a triumvirate of Singers (Joanna Christie, Yvette Riby-Williams and Selena Seballo each of which have their own individual track on the album). Selena Seballo (a Gospel/Jazz singer transposed from Florida to London) soars over the Wall of Sound of the brass and drums on ‘I Choose You’ . Joanna Christie (Once, Narcos) shakes it all off with a high energy disco stomper of a chorus in her song ‘Sure Feels Good.’ On ‘There's Nothing You Can Tell Me’ Yvette Riby-Williams’ (NAALA) showcases her pure vocal lines over a starkly electronic beat before stepping it up for a grooving chorus leading to a dramatic and powerful call and response. ‘Something ‘bout my Love’ is a homage to old-school soul, featuring the powerful and bluesy vocals of Polly Gibbons. The track rises to a crescendo of riffing horns before Gibbons brings the track to a halt with a thickly harmonised slice of soulful acapella. Following a joyful performance at Wilton’s Music Hall in 2022 with the multi-talented cello-player Danny Keane (Anoushka Shankar, Mulatu Astatke), HCB were moved to include a cover of his original energetic afrobeat inspired tune ‘Ajoyo’, and also to compose a track for him called ‘Eleventy-Three’, which after a deceptively beautiful solo cello intro breaks into heavy riffing and shifting grooves. Starting with a sigh, ‘Resounding’ sees Scottish-based Indonesian/Swedish singer Nicole Cassandra Smit weaving a sinuous melody over a hypnotic, neo-soul inflected groove. A rare slice of introspection and melancholy, this rare moment of calm nevertheless carries HCB’s trademark intensity through to new sonic territories for the band. And what sonic territories could be newer for a brass band full of jazz musicians than a hybrid of conch shells, harp and electronics? Yet it’s this mix that closes the album, with the hypnotic ‘Fluoresce’. Inspired by Steve Pretty’s unlikely side hustle as an underwater photographer, this track conjures up an impressionistic sense of the mystery and otherworldliness of scuba diving at night, and features Steve’s regular collaborator Valeria Clarke on harp, as well as the whole band playing conch shells from Steve’s extensive collection.

As anyone who has attempted any degree of social organisation will attest, it is no mean feat to gather nine people in one place, at the same time, on a semi-regular basis, never mind taking this group of people all over the world to play instrumental music. Add into the mix an industry where artists are encouraged to find a genre niche and stick to it - advice HCB have joyously ignored for their fifteen year career - and the community and kinship that HCB have built up over this time seems even more remarkable.Frontman/composer Steve Pretty and composers Olly Blackman and Luke Christie say of this release: ‘It’s a privilege and joy to still be playing together after all these years, and especially to be pushing each other to be as creative and innovative as we can be. The process of collaborating with so many amazing artists, and the freshness that’s brought to the project is endlessly inspiring. Some of this music started life almost a decade ago, and other tracks are only a few months old, but we’re so proud of the breadth of musical talent on display with this record.’ A testament to their tenure and calibre as musicians, ‘Collaborations : Volume Two’ is an exuberant and original addition to HCB’s already impressive and varied catalogue, highlighting their restlessly collaborative and creative instincts.