When two elephants fight, it’s the grass that suffers.  

The story goes that in 2012, Olisa Adibua and his former partner Obi Asika parted ways under acrimonious circumstances. Storm 360 imploded soon afterwards and a number of careers were significantly affected, but arguably none worse than the fledgling group LOS (Lost on Sound) who’ve had to press the restart button since then, individually.

Tomi Thomas was a quarter of LOS and Black Couch is his second solo project but the first he’s referring to as an “LP”, even though it’s the exact same length (15) as Patience, which he called an “EP”. I guess Seyi Shay was right after all, these acronyms are really whatever you make of them.

Numbers aside, Black Couch is an improvement on Patience, which was a solid project. What has improved is the maturity and control in Tomi’s voice, what remains is the musical experimentation and lyrics so raunchy, it’s amazing he’s had his mother do background vocals for him before.

“Climate Change” couldn’t be farther from the ozone and family-friendly record that it appears to be – Tomi wants to autograph titties, cause a flood between his lady’s thighs and run through red lights, which could be a double entendre for either beating traffic to see his lady or having sex with her on her period. Or maybe I just added that last part, Tomi doesn’t strive for that level of lyrical complexity, his strength as a songwriter is more in his melody and dynamism. The singer has also developed an understanding of his vocal ability that allows him deliver an unmistakable, siren-like shrill on “In the Morning” but quicken and quieten the flow on the the sultry “Caught a Wave”.

On “Cheat Codes”, he explains that he gets this diverse style from no one. On the other hand, Tomi also hasn’t hidden the fact that Bob Marley is one of his idols. So, at its core, Black Couch is most inspired by roots reggae. As the introductory “Waging Wars” one-drops the album to a start, TT delivers a message of hope and a better tomorrow. He re-echoes the message on the freestyled “Hope in the Wild” but adds a little more edge. However, the subject matter on the rest of the project isn’t always this uplifting – there’s a lot less of Marley’s teachings on love and a lot more of Thomas’ practices of lust. That’s the reason why I’m careful not to call it a roots reggae album, Black Couch is a fusion of traditional hip-hop and R&B, roots reggae and then trap music from the streets of Atlanta where Tomi lived for a while.

Unfortunately, without a record deal in 2016, few will get to hear some of the brilliance on this LP. Tomi Thomas now belongs to a group of artists called “SoundCloud artists” because it’s highly unlikely that you’ll hear their music anywhere else. Not at big concerts, radio stations or at nightclubs. When he calls in his fellow SoundCloud artists, an already niche sound becomes even narrower. Tay Iwar jazzes up “Passion” but “Vegas Love” and “Mechanic” are among the least musical songs on the project and sound quite clicky. It feels like 3 people started having a conversation in English but 2 veered off into Yoruba and started talking over the third person’s head.

That third person does not speak Yoruba.

Another example is the trap-centric “Gucci Denim”, the reason why the LP is titled Black Couch could probably be found half-hidden beneath the dense sounds of Benie Macaulay’s drum machines, but it’s more likely that it’s an indecent inside joke between TT and Santi, the featured artist.   

Inside jokes and niche sounds deepen your relationship with diehard fans, but does little for your relationship with everybody else. Consequently, Black Couch isn’t the kind of project that hits you immediately if you’re not a fan of TT’s. You might need to listen over and over to find more hidden gems, which is ironic, considering that things that can only be found on the internet aren’t typically built to interest you for very long.

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