Rudimental

Throughout the 70s, Sly & The Family Stone and George Clinton's Parliament / Funkadelic made uplifting, utopian, funky rock and soul music that refused to be drawn along lines of race or genre. Four decades later, four friends from London have brought that collective spirit back while also capturing the realities of 21st century British life. The result is We The Generation by Rudimental.

We The Generation is an album for 2015, from the gospel-tinged I Will For Love, to the reggae-meets-drum'n'bass sparkle of Love Ain't Just A Word, to the soulful balladry of Ed Sheeran collaborations Bloodstream and Lay It All On Me. Guests include Rudimental favorites Ella Eyre and MNEK, 70s legends George Clinton, Max Romeo, the late Bobby Womack and Steely Dan's Donald Fagen, alongside new discoveries including sweet-voiced Essex singer Anne-Marie and energetic soul boy Will Heard. It sounds like the future, but it also reaches back to states of being long overdue for revival: togetherness, communality, acceptance.

We The Generation builds on everything Rudimental learnt from the success of their 2013 debut Home. That album, with its hits Feel The Love and Waiting All Night, went to number one and launched the careers of Ella Eyre and John Newman in the process, but it also shook up the lives of the four men who made it beyond all recognition.