Harrysong delivers sweet serenade and beautiful lamba on, 'Right About Now' [EP Review]
It's very difficult to find Afro-pop projects with no filler tracks or throwaway tracks, but Right About Now is an exception.
When Harrysong burst onto the scene as an artist of the E-Money-owned, Five Star Music, he was known for his soul of lamba [read commercial music]. Despite being in the industry for years prior as a songwriter and as an insider, he finally found his pocket [read his moment] and he excelled.
He released hits, but that moment didn't really last long. Nevertheless, the good music never stopped. Like he told Pulse Nigeria during an interview earlier in 2020, the continued growth of the industry affords him the opportunity to make decent money even without having what the mainstream calls, 'hits.'
The important thing about Harrysong though is that, the depth of his artistry is much more than the industry saw - even when he had 'hits.' As a church boy, he grew up chiseling his vocals into shape and playing instruments. But on his hits, these talents were never really on show - only his ability to create resonant melodies was on show.
But on his sophomore body of work, Right About Now which dropped on August 14, 2020, much more was on show. While the project lacks world-spinning depth in concept and topical conversation, that will never be a metric to judge the type of music he chose to make on this nine-track project.
Right About Now EP is a project made with an intent to appeal to the Nigerian mainstream. It is filled with Afro-pop records that aim to trigger dopamine in a listener's mind, not exactly to get a listener in his feelings.
Nevertheless, Harrysong's foundations as a songwriter still came out to play on the Afro&B songs he made for female demographics. Substance was achieved with songs like, 'Kumbaya,' 'Falling For You,' or 'E Be You.'
Even when the astute songwriting was largely missing on lamba drills like, 'Konna,' 'Deliver Me' or 'Oppressor,' those songs were still not formless.
Most importantly, this EP is home to incredible melodies by way of carefully selected, well-crafted bits of deft production from top to bottom. Be it the bass legatos on, 'Kumbaya' or the violin deliveries on, 'Falling For You' or bass staccatos on, 'Apianko,' Harrysong spoke to hearts with great sounds.
It's very difficult to find Afro-pop projects with no filler tracks or throwaway tracks, but Right About Now is an exception.
From top to bottom, it produces sweet music and even found appropriate pockets for singles like 'Bum Bum' and 'Isioma' - songs we've heard before. Even more commendably, Harrysong intermittently showed of his vocal range as he experimented with octaves on a mellow love song like, 'Falling For You.'
Harrysong should be proud of this EP - this is sweet music. Sweet, sweet music. All that he set on the Reggae-Fusion song, 'Kumbaya' came to fruition.
As he sought to inspire with a combination of the mouth of a motivational speaker and the delivery of a pastor aboard a bass-rich melodies that occasionally borrows from guitar chords, he comes up with Afro&B beauty. Most people fail with their trackllists too, but not Harrysong.
While Right About Now is not a concept project and sequence would have been hard to find for it, Harrysong manages to achieve that.
Ratings: /10
• 0-1.9: Flop
• 2.0-3.9: Near fall
• 4.0-5.9: Average
• 6.0-7.9: Victory
• 8.0-10: Champion
Pulse Rating: /10
8.0 - Champion
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