Brymo. Oso. It is the perfect definition of someone whose music sweeps you with an avalanche of poetry, anguish, pleasure, happiness and even a lack of it. His music swoons and engulfs with a passion fueled by his utterances as his message which sometimes bears a certain vagueness, speaks to our barest and most primal feelings.
You know those feelings, those that make you hate, those that make you love, those that make you want to make love, those that make you want to search for love, for companionship – Brymo’s music is an avalanche of all these chaotic thoughts, memories, little niceties of life all wrapped in the sweet sweet balm of melody. No wonder they say ‘Soothing music’. It can soothe your heart for whatever it is in the mood for. It is no wonder we have playlists, for moods, for occasions, for emotions, for moments.
Brymo lyrically, is a double-edged sword as he operates starkly across two extremities. He is either very vague or very explicit – there is no middle ground. He is either trying to love a woman with all his being or explaining the complexities of human behaviour, telling us how his upbringing shaped him into this revolutionist or trying to bring a woman to her sexual climax. Brymo is a man by all definitions of what being a “man” is because he feels these earthly things we feel, he knows them, as he has felt them.
However, his evolution from the mere son of a carpenter to Oso highlights that he has transcended to a realm where he can almost pour his reasoning back to us spiritually or with a spiritual definition. He can take our earthly feelings and give them a spiritual meaning and virtue. A.A.A consists of Brymo (Olawale Oloforo’ro) on vocals, Jad Moukarim as the lead guitarist, laughter on the bass guitar, and Adey Omotade on the drums. Together they make this brilliant 5 tracked project. The instrumentalists aptly refine Brymo’s essence for more tone and more melody than what Brymo has done individually.
They add another dimension to Brymo and they are not just lost amidst Brymo’s yearning voice. They are there, giving layers, playing along into Brymo’s spiritual endearment and musings. They transcend with the Oso as their string and percussive instruments sway with Brymo’s vocals to perfection time and time again till we are yearning for their spiritual discernments.
“Johnbull” begins with the instrumentals introducing us to Brymo who is seeking out a certain Johnbull. Brymo sometimes leaves listeners lost as he can take a single element and wrap it all in so many philosophical musings that it is a problem to actually define what path you are actually on. He can discuss the so many ramifications to a single element that can do your head in, but you know what he is trying to talk about. It almost explains itself to your spirit being. An example of how his philosophical rumblings can be all rather nebulous is on “Mary had an orgasm” as he goes from explaining a first timers experience in Lagos to going into those little ramblings saying, “black and white, its always pink inside”, probably referring to the female genitalia.
Difficult dots to connect but somehow seem to connect within us even though it might not to our literal senses. On the slow ballad “Take me back to November” he pleads to be taken back to a better point in time when he had the trust of a loved one. This is the easiest I’ve found it to discern what Brymo is actually talking about and I won’t be surprised if I got it all wrong.
Next, he muses about “Golden eyes” that come to him at night that shine but then he wants to fly away with them but also wants to forget about them. That is the oxymoron that is Brymo’s music. His words often contradict themselves, contradict their context and the words around them. It is almost like music from the spiritual realm which transcend our mere mortal ways of what those words can mean. “The in-between” is an encouragement to keep pushing, keep doing something, to keep moving and basically do something.
An introductory 5 track Ep like A.A.A cannot get anymore brilliant than this as this album receives a magnificent 10/10 from me – from sound curation and production to thematic style to lyrics. All across the board of what makes music good, A.A.A impressively delivers perfection with the most passionate of poises. They carry Brymo away from the enclosure of his usual sound to a slightly more upbeat realm while still maintaining the otherworldliness of his lyrics. The gods of music not only kissed this work, they gave it a long, unyielding and emotional embrace. Oso was at the forefront of it all, carrying this embrace to us mere beings who cannot accept this caress in our worldly form of literals and parallels.
Listen to A.A.A below: