One Son Presents: Afro Heartbeat
- BuzzSlayers
- 23 minutes ago
- 3 min read
A new album release from One Son, Iddi Singer, and Big Fella, brings out such an incredibly lush soundscape that breeds a heavy-handed afrobeat approach combined with world, soul, and more, along with beautiful cultural flares, a thriving energy, and an insanely flavorful soundscape that you can't really get away from.
One of the things that I like most about the Afro Heartbeat album is its diversity and instrumentation.
There are no two songs that are exactly alike, although it does sit firmly under that afrobeat umbrella, of course. The songs come through with color and a specific kind of brightness, super addictive beats giving off those wonderful grooves, and everyone does an amazing job in terms of production and vocal approach.
A lot of the time, the lyrics bounce between those rhythmic beats, giving you this danceable sensation, and they always sort of match the energy of the music itself.
The vocals are almost always on the same level as the instruments, and I really liked how dynamically robust the whole record comes through.
As you can imagine, there are all kinds of instruments flowing through the veins of the record.
The guitar work seems to be a really key element and a very consistent piece of the puzzle throughout the album's course. The guitar work really gives you either spacious sort of deepening sounds, like on "Sherehe", or soulful grooves and rock undertones like on "Motion".
All the while, Iddi Singer delivers gorgeous vocals that are both again, sort of rhythmically invasive with really intricate and wonderfully approached time signatures, lyrical phrasing, and rhythm, along with soaring melodies.
He adds this great R&B sort of flow into certain parts of tracks, and I really enjoyed how it gives you the feeling that this isn't just locked into one genre. It does branch out and sort of get expressive, reaching into other styles and approaches throughout its unfolding, and the more you get into it, the more you get pulled into this universe.
You also have songs that focus a little bit more on keys and synthesizers like "In My Head", which, in my opinion, is one of the catchier tracks, giving you a combination of that afrobeat and an R&B feel, while delivering that sense of digital experimentation that puts forth loads of melodies that vocals sit on top of amazingly.
At times, the vocals serve almost like instruments themselves, putting out these flowing, sort of inviting melodies and the entire album has a particular brightness to it that becomes infectious.
Obviously, the beats are also a key element in the record, and the production of this project was outstanding.
They definitely had a lot in mind, and a lot of the songs were well thought out in terms of how they were going to sound in the end game.
"Better" is absolutely one of the catchiest songs on the record, in my opinion.
It's got amazing guitar work, and the vocals just have this natural flow to them that gives you those melodies that stick in your head for long after the song has ended.
You can tell everyone put everything they had into this. There's a lot of heart throughout this entire release, and that's probably the most pertinent aspect about the entire thing.
It's got loads of character and hard, addictive grooves, really full-bodied sets of instrumentation, and the songs are almost alive and breathing.
This is a record with soul. I think that's important to understand.
The whole thing has its own aesthetic, and it's very easy to get swallowed up by it. Of course, I mean that in the best way possible.
It feels good to get swallowed up by this record because it pulls you away from wherever you are and whatever you're doing and puts you in a little chunk of time, which is amazing.
It's definitely an afrobeat record, but it's also not afraid to venture out in different directions whenever it wants to.
It blends and combines not just genres but sounds and textures to create something that's got depth and breeds its own atmosphere.
I would definitely check this full album out if you get a chance, because it's well worth listening to.
Certain songs will just suck you into them and have you flowing in your head with them, while others will have you moving your body.
It's a very danceable record a lot of the time. Afrobeat, in general, has addictive rhythms.
The album is just over a half hour and consists of 11 Tracks, all well worth diving into.
So, check this out right now, and you can hear exactly where I'm coming from with everything.
Remember where you heard it first.
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