Kokoroko, the London-based band, share their new EP Get The Message. Conceptualized as a project to give fans a sense of what’s to come from their forthcoming second studio album due next year, Get The Message is a 4-track opus that positions the band in a more introspective and meditative space from their previous music. Eschewing the brassy and exuberant sound of their last body of work, the new EP notably beholds more of a minimalist slant.
Gentler in mood, Get The Message finds the band experimenting with new sonic territories via modes of psychedelic soul, Afro-rock, dub and funk; sonically taking cues from the likes of Solange, Blood Orange, Sun Ra, Cymande and the 1970s Nigerian psych-rock band Ofege. Remarking on the band’s musical growth and evolution the last few years, Onome Edgeworth, the band’s percussionist shares, “Our tastes are richer and more developed. We’re now creating from a completely different viewpoint and it’s been quite freeing.”
Created under the guise of functioning as an intentional vessel for joy, the heart of Get The Message is concerned about the need for community, connection and relationships of all forms. Speaking further on the humanizing motivations behind the EP which was largely borne from its opening track “Higher,” the band’s co-founder and trumpeter, Sheila Maurice-Grey says:
“That song is a mantra. With the repeated lyrics, we were setting the intention and the tone of what we wanted to do with the EP which is to be a balm for people. Being a voice of hope, comfort in a time where the world isn’t always promoting positive energy, unity and togetherness”.
The arrival of the EP comes on the heels of its previously-released lead single “Three Piece Suit” featuring Nigerian-born UK artist Azekel. Inspired by a conversation between Onome Edgeworth and Azekel about their grandfathers, both of whom landed in London from Nigeria in the 1960s, palpable throughout are spiritual echoes resonating with ideas of home, lineage and ancestry.
Get The Message marks Kokoroko’s first project since the release of Could We Be More Remixes. The experimental and kaleidoscopic sister project to their 2022 debut album Could We Be More, which upon initial release earned critical plaudits from the likes of The Guardian, The Telegraph, Financial Times, Jazzwise, CRACK Magazine and Downbeat Magazine. Enlisting some of contemporary music’s most forward-thinking artists like KeiyaA, Ash Lauryn, Stefan Ringer and Hagan to re-imagine the original album through a club-focused lens, Could We Be More Remixes marked the beginning of the band being cast beyond spaces related to the jazz sphere. A signal of their incoming next phase.
