Bringing Music and Movement Together for Ezra Collective

Over the past few years, it’s been pretty wicked watching Ezra Collective rewrite the rules of British music. Their combination of Afrobeat, jazz, and hip-hop merges into a sound that dances with the pulse of a modern, moving culture. Rooted in London’s varied communities, their tracks are often celebrations of movement and spirit. Their music video for ‘God Gave Me Feet For Dancing’ captures that infectious, foot tapping, head nodding energy that the band is known for. 

When I ask sound designer, Stuart Allen-Hynd about how it all started, he begins by explaining the launch-point for projects like this: “It’s about helping bring the director’s sonic vision to life, while offering up my own ideas into the mix." Speaking to how the initial concept evolved, he tells me, “Sometimes I might have an idea that is great and works perfectly; other times, less is more. On the Ezra film, we originally had some movement sounds, accompanying the dancers into the next shot. But after reviewing it, we decided to lose it, as we felt it was too distracting.” He adds, “But without trying, you wouldn’t know.”

For director, Tajana Tokyo, the goal was always rooted in balance. The movement was never meant to steal the spotlight, but to compliment the track. “It was about having the movement support the beauty of the song, not distract or become its own thing, but for it to stay true to the euphoric energy of the track. It was to make us feel good and appreciate the production, the instrumentation, and the vibe,” she tells me.

For both, successfully marrying creativity is all about the collaboration dynamic. Stuart explains, “For me, its chemistry between the dancers that just radiates. They are so well cast and so talented at what they do; its so engaging to watch.” His role, he explains, was to add layers to what Tajana had already built visually. “Everything was in great place aesthetically, and had so much emotion; I just wanted to highlight that with some subtle sound design, which pulls you in immediately.”

When I ask Tajana about what makes collaborations successful, she tells me it’s important to be intentional – explaining it’s about understanding one another’s work, and seeing where the common ground is. But it all comes back down to intuition. “The secret is to not overthink. Sound and music is ultimately a feeling, just keep returning to the core of the idea and trust your gut.”

Creative projects are rarely without their ups and downs. Tajana remembers the original script for the opening scene having to be reworked. “Initially, it was scripted a little different. My editor, Amber Saunders, made an alt version just to see how I felt about it. And though it wasn’t what I had in mind, I ended up preferring it,” she explains. “This is where the bulk of the sound is, so it encouraged us to create sound design that fitted the new introduction to our lead characters.”

Stuart tells me that adding some additional sonic touches to the music video felt like a full circle moment. “Having met the band six years ago on a flight back from Switzerland, it felt surreal to work on this project.” He continues, “The track is wicked, and Tajana, the director/choreographer on this, did such a good job harnessing the performance; the sound design was the icing on the cake.”

Looking to what we can expect to see next, Tajana hints at an upcoming project – a non-dialogue film driven entirely by music, sound, and dance –  which she co-created and directed with her partner, Sannchia Gaston.

“Funny enough, a first episode recently got released, and we worked with Stuart on the sound too. We’re really excited about this one – its the first of many.”