Give Me Hope

Burundian-born soul singer JP Bimeni doesn't see the world through rose colored glasses, but he exudes optimism in his sophomore album, Give Me Hope. A royal refugee who escaped death more than once and found his sonic calling in the UK, Bimeni's latest channels prime Otis Redding while meditating on ambition, community and love. Give Me Hope grooves between classic '60s Motown and Stax-inspired soul, psychedelia and Afro-funk. Inspired by leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. And James Stern (the namesake of an empoweringly funky track) and propelled by the wisdom of prolific creators like Lee Scratch Perry, Bimeni's deep consciousness and vulnerability is on full display without losing pop sensibility. 'I've been trying to see in terms of the journey I'm on as an expressive artist: what I've overcome, what's ahead and where I am now. It feels like I have a lot of cleansing to do,' Bimeni says. 'It's an emotional process. Your individual status can change, but you still can identify a lot of your stages and understand how you deal with that internally.' A descendant of the Burundian royal family whose parents held opposing political views, Bimeni escaped his country aged 15 during the 1993 civil war and genocide. Following multiple attempts on his life, including being poisoned by doctors in hospital, he was given refugee status and fled to Wales. Soon after Bimeni's arrival at Trinity College in Wales - a school for children who have escaped conflict, where he received a United Nations organised scholarship - Bimeni was taken record shopping for his birthday. He immediately gravitated toward the music of Ray Charles, Bob Marley, Marvin Gaye and his idol, Otis Redding. 'Music is my great escape. My first album, Free Me, was me finally doing what I wanted to do and feeling like music is my freedom,' he says, adding that his frame of mind evolved while recording Give Me Hope...