BACKGROUND
This album is God breathed through and through. It has caused me to stay pensive, say wow so many times, dance and shout to God because it is so fantastic. Like new wine, it has filled me with the presence of God and so many God memories, and I’d love you to have that experience.
This album is a well of musicality and God presence, beautiful modulations, phonetic yum, vocal and lyrical dexterity. It is so rich, so sweet, and complete, like the voice of an angel.
A fine mix of Nigerian and western influences, this body of work is a mix of igala, igbo and English tracks with tinges of Yoruba. The diverse spiritual themes are expressed in colour, as well as in depth.
HOLY HALLELUYAH
This smashing song on B major takes me back to the 80’s, reminding me of Lionel Richie’s ‘All Night Long’, as well as The Commodores’ ‘Night Shift’. I love the unison of the back ups as they sing, ‘You are holy in every language’. The modulations and the backup arrangements also remind me of Cece Winans. I think I might have wanted one more modulation in this song, because they were all so lovely. I loved the drums, very jivey and tush, reminding me of the drums in the song, ‘Lavish’ by The Tribe Music.
EMMANUEL
This song on F major is heavy with the anointing, like a heavenly sound. It is like a river of modulations too beautiful to describe. I feel the vanila presence of God in every line and it is so sheer and glorious. This song also reminds me of Cece Winans’ body of work. Sometimes, I feel like I am trying to catch the awesomeness of this song and cradle it in my hands because it so sheer. The name of Jesus is what makes all the difference. It is at this name that the miraculous can occur.
OPEN HEAVENS
This smooth jazz piece starts on A flat with Glowreeyah’s soft and silky voice being one with the digital trumpets as she gives a declaration of open heavens in creamy English. The verse is also sung, registering the truth that only Jesus is the key to Heaven’s door. There are so many colourful notes on the instrumental, and it does give a slight highlife vibe akin to Sir Victor Uwaifo’s ‘Joromi’. The saxophone shines on this piece, delighting my ears with its sonorous harmonies. The trumpets, bass and lead guitars are also great, with the piano giving glissandos a few times. I particularly love the melody of Glowreeyah’s adlib ‘We are desperate for you, baba God we need you’. Beautiful harmonies from the back ups indeed open up the heavens to receive an outpouring. This song is like sweet perfume; an amazing herald to the outpouring of the spirit of God, which we constantly need in these last days.
Listen to Sweet Perfume by The Tribe Music here
MOVING MIGHTILY
The bass guitar starts this piece with the notes ldrrfmd, the digital trumpets join in with the melody smslsms, that ultimately resolve to the bass’s melody that hums throughout this reggae piece. The digital organ also partakes in this delicious orchestration. This brings nostalgia to my memories of childhood listening to reggae from artistes like Ras Kimono.
Glowreeyah starts this piece on a strong lower octave on A flat proclaiming the awesome truth of God moving mightily in power. Accompanied by the delicious harmonies of Glowreeyah as well as the back ups, this song will stay in your head long after it is played. She goes an octave higher at ‘He is moving mightily’. This as well as her signature reggae adlibs is my highlight of this track.
Check out ‘Surge’ by Obiwon and Glowreeyah
I love the ad-lib ‘Spirit blow a revival’, because this is exactly what we need God to do in Nigeria. This song is a great tool to pray and declare that God move mightily in Nigeria, as well as our lives to battle impossible things.
Related: ‘Impossible Things’ by Chris Tomlin and Daniel Gokey
EXALTED
This B flat major piece with 80’s guitar feels comes with an amazing message that is guaranteed to evoke the miraculous and spur up the development of christian maturity. The key to healing is to see Jesus exalted far above every issue or challenge we may face. A typology of this is when the Israelites experienced snake bites in the wilderness and they had to fix their gaze on the golden serpent, which was a type of Jesus dying on the cross and being exalted as Lord. I love the way Glowreeyah adlibs ‘I command my soul to rise and see the Lord’, bringing to my mind Mary Mary’s ‘I Worship You’, where Tina adlibs a command to her soul to worship God. Worship is indeed an integral part of our spiritual exercise that aids us in being filled with the spirit, and it requires the discipline of exalting God regardless of what we go through. I also particularly enjoy the lines, ‘You have my heart, you think of me, and you know the cost of my offering’. It is such a reassurance that God rewards us when we diligently seek him. He knows what is costs us, and only he is our rewarder.
UFEDO OJO
This hymnesque Igala piece on A major speaks of the love of God with the digital ogene chiming in the background. The modulation to A flat is incredibly stylish, and Glowreeyah’s lovely harmonies have my attention. There is also some panning and reverb by Glowreeyah on this piece.
I love the lines ‘I have the love of my father’s heart and his love is strong for me’ so much, and I would like everyone to find these words on the pages of the bible and eat them, and let them be the joy and the rejoicing of your heart. There is nothing like the love of God. I love the al fine of the piece: solemn, giving more opportunity to ponder on the marvel of its lyrics.
EKENE
This acoustic/ambience soul piece rendered lovingly in igbo is a song of fullness. The vocals of Glowreeyah and Eno Michael have great chemistry, ace freestyle and are incredibly soulful, giving me that Des’rée Life o Life energy. I love the phonetic emphasis in the phrase ‘You have shown me abundant mercy’, as well as the chest vocal range on the piece. I love how the duet draw the word ‘worship’ when they sing ‘I worship you, Jesus’, portraying deep understanding. It is like an anthem of praise to God by women who have become all that God has destined them to be.
JESUS IS HERE
This Song on C major has a slight South African feel, laced with tongues by Glowreeyah, hums, chants and dynamics from the back ups that take me back to the Songs of the Ascents. The strong drum beat reinforces this imagery. Glowreeyah starts her vocals soft but they emerge strong. She goes incredibily sweet when she adlibs ‘Eze’, and goes an octave higher on the last one. I love how she adlibs with lines from other songs like Chamachala, Kabiyesi Oh Hossanah Oh, and Miracle Worker. I also adore how this song is about Jesus being in our midst and working his power in us. This reinforces my perspective that these last days will manifest the glory and power of God like never before.
ODUMEGWU JUDAH
This igbo rendition on D major is sunny and beautiful. It gives me that Mercy Chinwo vibe from ‘Regular’, but Glowreeyah’s is much softer. I love how Glowreeyah sings, ‘A-a-a-a-ah, you are the lion of Judah eh’. Oh, I love it so much. There is a lot of contribution from the back ups to make the song more colourful and beautiful. It is such a feel good song and I love the juxtaposition of this melody with the subject of Jesus being the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.
Check out a review of Mercy Chinwo’s ‘The Cross My Gaze’ album here
GRACIOUS GOD
This ballad on A with a modulation to B flat is one of my favourites. Chimes start this piece, ushering the piano notes, and then the singular voices of the duet before they match pitch. The melody of vamp, ‘You are my one inspiration/rock and salvation’ reminds me of Timi Dakolo’s ‘Great Nation’ at ‘Where freedom reigns and truth prevails’, and both songs have a similar chord progression. The lines ‘You give me grace for all seasons, how great are you Jesus; gracious God, your name is Jehovah’ are incredibly special to me. Jehovah means ‘The one who is actively present in his creation’. And the reason He is actively present is so that He may give us grace in every season of our lives. This just fills me with so much gratitude as the piece ends with the piano’s glissandos. Listen to this piece and let God’s grace be more real to you than ever before.
COLOURS OF JESUS
This house music/techno jam on C has that Hillsong ‘Falling into You’ X football jingle vibe. It speaks about how God beautifies our lives with his colours. I like the notes from the bass guitar and the drums are on fire in this song. The adlibs ‘Peace and power, life and joy in you’ are really nice words that pump me up.
GOD OF GLORY
This song starts with chimes and legato piano notes that play as chords when Glowreeyah vocalises God’s taking the glory from the story our lives. This ballad on B major has a beautiful transposition to D flat at the second verse and a final modulation to E flat that gives me a Celine Dion ‘My Heart Will Go On’ feel as Glowreeyah sings ‘Take the glory now’, elongating the ‘now’ note. This song is anthemic, leaving room for a lot of adlibs done beautifully by Glowreeyah.
Listen to ‘Glory’ by Rachel Kerr
She adlibs with pizzicatos in the background and oohs and ahs from the back ups. I love the soft delicious adlib at ‘From the story of my life’.
I think it is important to remember that God takes glory in every situation of our lives. He is aware of our struggles and pains and is ready to create glory out of it. This is much akin to the song that says the Spirit broods over our darkness and causes light to shine out of it.
OJO CHEGBE
I can hear the rains in the rattles and the drums. This song is heavy with revival energy. Ojo Chegbe is igala for ‘The Lord has done well/a lot’ and this high praise on A flat chants verses attesting to the mercies, favour and goodness of God. Glowreeyah does an igala panegyric, lending credence to the fact that giving God praise is serious business. It comes from an understanding that is devoid of the natural.
JEHOVAH
Jehovah is a song that keeps on giving. It starts with rattles, the guitar and then the drums on B major. I love it when Glowreeyah says ‘That’s right’ after the first verse. I love the bridge and the instrumental at the bridge when Glowreeyah sings ‘I have Jehovah’, coupled with ohs from the back ups. I love the sleek notes of the guitar just before a revamp of the vamp. But what I love most about this song is the appropriation of Jehovah. It is the only kind of appropriation where we as christians proudly bear our scars of being persecuted, yet gladly give him glory when He is celebrated. We have the liberty of celebrating Him in season and out of season. It’s like saying God is your personal person; your ride or die. God is our Jehovah. He is the only person that belongs to us completely and I love it. And he longs for us to give ourselves completely to Him. There’s absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain. Also, it means you are never alone in this life. You have a God who will at different points in your life reveal himself to you in new and various ways. This is quite an amazing and fulfiling adventure.
Check out my 2016 review of Jehovah here.
HUMILITY
This track is such a lol. Fantastic outro to a great album, featuring igbo chorale and percussive instruments on E major .
MY FAVOURITES
The songs on this album are all so God-presence heavy and fantastic, that I kept re-prondering and vacillating over my faves, but I would say ‘Emmanuel’, ‘Gracious God’, ‘Moving Mightily’, ‘Odumegwu Judah’ and ‘Jehovah’.
Listen to this album on the platforms below and share your thoughts.
