Home Interviews & Features Album Review: Glowreeyah Braimah’s “The Expression” – A Spiritual Therapy

Interviews & Features

Album Review: Glowreeyah Braimah’s “The Expression” – A Spiritual Therapy

February 10, 2016

Some of the things you can always synonymize Glowreeyah Braimah with is creativity and excellence, add that to her silvery yet fruity vocal, a sixteen-track waxed record and a lifetime of experiences aligning to God’s perfect plan and I can confidently give you a CD titled “The Expression”.

Released in October 2015, “The Expression” is Glowreeyah’s debut album. It’s commendable how Glowreeyah only dropped her debut single and video in 2013 and already, we have an album that the whole Mindustry can reckon with.

The album took flight with the intro track where Glowreeyah tells a gripping tale of the journey to the point of the release of the album and moves to the somewhat Tropical “God Alone”. If you have heard “God Alone” as much as I have, then “Hear us Today” is going to literally grip your attention with almost a choke-hold, like, they don’t make music like this anymore!

Produced by Mosa Adegboye, “Hear us Today” is a Contemporary Folk song – almost like something from the Sound of Music – with very rich lyrics and emphatic supplication in the chorus, Glowreeyah sets the tone for what the album has in stock.

It comes as no surprise that the track that follows such a beautiful piece is “Eze”, a mid-tempo Pop. I would have loved to describe the song as Afro-Pop as a result of the afrocentric elements but due to the abuse of the paronym, I will play safe and stick with Pop. Produced by the award winning Wilson Joel, “Eze” is another encore moment in the album and I think if Glowreeyah should devise means to focalize this track, it can yield the same result as “Miracle Worker” but then again, what do I know. In addition, Praise Channel did a great job on the song.

Trust Glowreeyah to use words to create beautiful imagery as she enjoins us to blow our horns with the “Angel Armies” in track 5, declaring Jesus as our sound of Music. Glowreeyah’s use of imagery and metaphors gives great depth to her lyrics.

“To My Knees” and “Miracle Worker” are two previously released works and two extremes Glowreeyah ventures into on the album. While “Miracle Worker” can be said to be the most conventional single (what we refer to as worship song today) on the album, “To My Knees” is the ‘Popest’ of them all. Aside the fact that the song “Miracle Worker” has a special anointing, the ambiance is soothing and Nathaniel Bassey‘s horns will reach the depth of one’s soul. It’s a good haven from stress and worries.

She takes a trip to the glory days (Glowreeyah… Glory days… no pun intended) of R&B – the early 90s – as she hits the high octaves on “Overcome”. Forget the use of vernacular and the fast tempo, “I’m a Testimony” is also a beautiful R&B track.

I think in the near future, it will be easy to identify a Glowreeyah Braimah’s sound as “The Expression” album to a large extent, helped defined her sound. It is smooth, unconventional as far as Gospel is concerned, with elements of Contemporary Folk music, except for singles like “Eze”, “Deliverer”, “To My Knees”, “Miracle Worker” amongst others where Glowreeyah deviated to allow room for more creativity. You can always hear a “la la la” or “hey hey hey”, call and response style too, every now and then to further prove Glowreeyah’s subconscious attraction for Folk music, although this has also, in recent times, found to be rampant in Pop music irrespective of its sub-genre.

I am not familiar with the practice of Igala or Egun customs when it comes to music but if “Chamachalla” is anything to go by, can we please get an encore!!! While we love the smooth unconventional Glowreeyah Braimah, I think I speak for as many as are Glowreeyah’s fan when I say we want more of this every now and then from the beautiful songstress.

Just when we thought we have heard all that there is to express about Glowreeyah on this album, she has one more trick up her sleeve as she brings out the humourous, word coining (actually a whole sentence this time) Glowreeyah on the outro track “I Exclamation You”.

If you are looking for the Sunday-Sunday kind of worship – a contemporary album, well… you will find one or two places to fit this album in on your shelve but if what you want is a whole new experience – a spiritual therapy of praise, worship and even supplications, then Glowreeyah Braimah’s “The Expression” will never get dusty on your shelve… if I may add, it’s naturally a ‘non-skippable’ experience.

Get The Expression by Glowreeyah on iTunes

iTunes

You can also purchase hard copy at:

Laterna Ventures Limited

13, Oko-Awo Close, Off. Adetokunbo Ademola Street,. Victoria Island,. Lagos State, Nigeria

Connect:

Instagram | Twitter: @glowreeyah

Web: glowreeyah.com

— Written by Alex Amos