A low, circling tension runs through “Helicopters”, the new collaboration between Ezra Collective and Greentea Peng. Built around a hypnotic bassline and deep dub textures, the track blends the band’s fluid jazz instrumentation with Greentea Peng’s smoky, reflective vocal delivery — creating something both meditative and quietly confrontational.
Produced by Ezra Collective and mixed by David Wrench, the track leans into spacious rhythms and warm analogue textures. Horns drift in and out of the mix while the groove remains steady and grounded, giving Greentea Peng room to deliver lyrics that reflect on protest, surveillance and the uneasy atmosphere that can hang over public dissent. The result feels expansive and atmospheric, rooted equally in London’s jazz underground and the lineage of UK dub.
The single appears on HELP(2), a new collaborative record released through War Child Records, bringing together a wide cross-section of contemporary artists to support the work of War Child UK. The organisation works in conflict-affected regions around the world, delivering emergency aid, education and psychological support to children living through war.
For Greentea Peng, the lyrics were shaped by the familiar sound of helicopters hovering above demonstrations — a presence that has become part of the protest landscape in recent years.
“Helicopters, you could say, is a reaction to the lack of action or misaction we have witnessed over the last three years (but in reality, throughout my whole life) in regard to the blatant slaughtering and exploitation of our brothers and sisters around the world. The manipulation, lies, and treachery that the powers that be rain down upon us with absolute impunity. Whilst we gather in the streets to demand our rights and the end to this evil perpetrated in our names, they hover above us in their flying machines, their helicopters, pre-empting chaos, as if we are the ones who need watching, as if we are the ones reaping havoc. From the streets, amidst my peers, gathered in their thousands, I found myself looking up and wondering.. if only you were looking in the right direction. That is how these lyrics came to be. The rest is down to my talented brethren of the Ezra Collective. Give thanks.”
HELP(2) draws inspiration from the legendary 1995 charity compilation Help, a project spearheaded by Brian Eno that brought together artists including Oasis, Blur and Radiohead to raise funds for children affected by the Bosnian war. That original record was famously written, recorded and released in just a matter of days, eventually raising more than £1.2 million for the cause.
The new project updates that spirit for a different era. Recorded largely across an intense week at Abbey Road Studios and produced by James Ford, HELP(2) features a sprawling lineup that includes Arctic Monkeys, Arlo Parks, Fontaines D.C., Sampha, Wet Leg, Foals and Olivia Rodrigo among its contributors.
Visually, the project has been shaped by filmmaker Jonathan Glazer, whose concept for the campaign — “By Children, For Children” — invited young people to document the recording process themselves, while also incorporating footage shot by children living in conflict zones including Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine.
Nearly three decades after the first HELP album, the context has shifted dramatically. Today, an estimated 520 million children worldwide are affected by conflict, a figure that has almost doubled since the 1990s. HELP(2) arrives as both a cultural moment and a reminder of the scale of that crisis — with artists across genres contributing new work in support of War Child’s mission to ensure that no child grows up surrounded by war.
words Al Woods
