“I Wanted It To Be Much More Instinctual”: Jordan Rakei On Collaboration And Abbey Road Studios

Fresh from his deeply rewarding collaborative EP, the multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and producer talks working with the crème de la crème of contemporaries and being Abbey Road Studios’ inaugural Artist In Residence.

“Between Us”, Jordan Rakei’s new collaborative EP, is quintessential listening. The five-pronged body of work was written and recorded at London’s paramount sonic breeding ground, Abbey Road Studios, as the New Zealand-born multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and producer spent stretches of time there as the legacy location’s inaugural Artist in Residence. 

For the project, Rakei enlisted the crème de la crème of contemporaries; you could barely dream of a more worthy and talented pantheon of artists. There’s Jalen Ngonda, the American polymath who’ll soon share his 5th June-set sophomore album, Doctrine Of Love, on the opener; Tom McFarland, one half of groove giants Jungle, on “Easy To Love”; the jazz drummer of the moment in Ezra Collective’s Femi Koleoso on “It Never Ends”. Then, French instrumental maverick FKJ on “Problems”, and for “Monsters”, the Mercury Prize-nominee, Nubya Garcia, whose closing cut comes accompanied by a short film documenting the track’s creation in just a day for the Abbey Road Lock-in series.

If that doesn’t convince you that “Between Us” is worth your time, care and love, just look at Rakei himself. He has spent over a decade at the apex of his craft, now undoubtedly among the most revered musicians of his genre and generation, a feat that culminated in his fifth and arguably strongest full-length record last year. The Loop is complex without being intimidating, featuring some of the sharpest instrumental playing and emotionally mature songwriting of 2025.

“Between Us” is less a direct artistic progression and more an exemplification of the energy and endeavour that collaboration among preeminent creatives can obtain. A bright, mellifluous, and deeply rewarding listen, it’s Rakei and friends and the peak of their powers. Below, the erudite discusses the honour of being Abbey Road’s first Artist In Residence, working with a coterie of soul and jazz’s very best, and continuing to reach new artistic heights.

Jordan, congratulations on your new collaborative EP, Between Us”, made at Abbey Road Studios as part of their Lock-in series. How are you feeling about sharing the body of work with the world? 

Thank you! Yeah, very excited to have a fun project out, capturing some of my time at Abbey Road! 

The project comes after you were named Abbey Road’s first-ever Artist In Residence and spent a lot of time there. What did the collaboration between you and the studio entail? 

It was a dream; I basically was given the keys to the studio with no ties or anything. I was given the freedom to make and do anything I wanted. Forever grateful to Abbey Road and their team for trusting me to utilise that time well! 

It’s an incredible honour to be the inaugural resident artist – was there a weight of expectation on your back? How did you approach the project? 

No pressure to be honest, as they were so supportive! I just approached it saying I wanted to write, collaborate, make new albums, and just use a studio for what it was! 

For the “Between Us” EP, you put together a who’s who of the very best in global jazz when it came to curating the artists you’d be working with on this project. What was the process of selecting them? 

They were a mixture of old collaborators and friends from the past, as well as new artists I’d never worked with, Tom and Jalen, for example! But all very honoured, they blessed me with their time! 

Each track was made in just a single intense day of writing. Why did you opt to create that way for this EP? How did it differ from your usual process? 

Just to take the stress away of making things in your head, I wanted it to be much more instinctual and react to each other each day, etc! 

Were there any threads you picked up between the artists, in terms of the wider direction of what jazz is right now, as well as their respective views on the current industry? 

Not really to be honest. Each of them had a very different approach, and that’s why I like the EP as it paints a very different and varied story. I guess you have me in the middle, being like the “glue” for everything. 

Who is someone – dead or alive – you’d have loved to collaborate with on the EP in a dream scenario? 

Always Bob Marley. He’s the dream for me! 

As someone who has been at the peak of British and global jazz for a decade now, stepping into this EP – with its collaborative and sonically eclectic nature – feels a turn towards something deeper than mere artistry. Do you want to be an industry leader in that respect? To be someone who others look to for your help, for guidance, for taste, for your curation?

Hm, it’s definitely not something I think about. However, I do always like pushing myself into new genres and want to be remembered as an artist who challenged himself and put some of my fans into new genres/explorations with every release. 

How do you reflect on last year’s Ivor Novello-nominated fifth studio album, The Loop? Where do you feel it sits within your musical canon? 

Yeah, I’m still so proud of this record. It’s very personal to me, and I can’t believe I got nominated for an Ivor. It was so humbling and validating to be honest! 

You continue to reach artistic heights, but what’s personally been the biggest challenge, or challenges, for you in your career? How have you overcome them? Or are you still working towards doing so? 

I think the biggest battle is always living up to an expectation of maybe where people think I should be, versus following my heart and staying true to myself! I constantly check in with myself to make sure I’m always still happy and feeding that inner child that got into music in the first place.