Give Me Hope

Burundian-born soul singer JP Bimeni doesn’t see the world through rose coloured 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.”