Jordan Rakei has released ‘Between Us’, a new five-track collaborative EP out now via Fontana, alongside focus single ‘It Never Ends’ featuring Femi Koleoso of Ezra Collective.
The EP was born from Rakei’s tenure as Abbey Road Studios’ first ever artist in residence, a period that produced his fifth studio album ‘The Loop’ alongside a series of spontaneous one-day writing sessions with a carefully chosen circle of collaborators.
Each track on ‘Between Us’ began and ended in a single day: FKJ, Jalen Ngonda, Tom McFarland of Jungle, Nubya Garcia and Koleoso each came in, made something, and left with a finished piece. “No overthinking,” Rakei has said of the approach. “That freedom was incredibly liberating. It took me back to my teenage years, making beats with friends and throwing them up on SoundCloud just because we loved it.”
‘It Never Ends’ is the EP’s final and most high-profile collaboration. Rakei and Koleoso have spent years on parallel paths, sharing festival lineups and crossing paths at jams without ever properly working together. The track came from Koleoso’s simple brief: make something he would want to hear in a venue. It blends Rakei’s soulful production with Koleoso’s rhythm-forward instincts, pulling in energy from Rakei’s Dan Kye alias. Koleoso has described the session as “a masterclass on how to make music”, adding that their shared love of neo-soul “developed into a conversation about what we love about London.”
The release follows an exceptional run for Rakei. ‘The Loop’ reached the UK Top 40, earned an Ivor Novello nomination for Best Album, and closed 2024 with two sold-out nights at the Royal Albert Hall. ‘Between Us’ is something lighter in intent but no less accomplished in execution.
