A.A.A. is perhaps as non-descript as it gets – a new EP project with abstract art adorning its cover and with that acronym.
Immediate assessment: underground, left-side of advertisement. Brace yourself. Come to this music without lofty expectations of the zeitgeist.
What is A.A.A.?
Certainly not, Alcoholic Anonymous Association.
It means Attack and Arrange.
It’s music made by a quartet: three-quarter of the Afro-Psychedelic Rock band, Skata Vibration and one male vocalist. More specifically, Jad Moukarim on acoustic guitar, Laughter on bass guitar, Adey Omotade on drums and Brymo Olof’oro with the voice.
The Extended Play being the ultimate teaser, keeps one in a loop; listen then re-listen. Lasting about a quarter of an hour, these five songs keep dreams afloat. There is something psychedelic about the renderings, an attempt at some kind of escape, a slip into the interstices between reality and imagination, somewhere dreamy.
And if the riffs and rhythms of the band evoke some Daydream Esoterica (maximum respect, Victor Ehikhamenor), Brymo relocates you to reality with his deep and edgy voice. It may as well be a synergy made in heaven. Here is Rock music ultimately with affordances for Nigerian inflexions and sensibilities.
Brymo is lyrically deft on every song. The album begins with ‘Johnbull’, a name that hints at a song common among Nigerian children of a certain era. Johnbull is that hapless character whose propensity to fail is glorious. Brymo spins the song and couches it within the possibilities and lamentations of exile. At a time of mass exodus by Nigerians seeking greener pastures in other climes, ‘Johnbull’ may be a rock-leaning update of Darey Art Alade’s ‘Pray for me’. Brymo, by focusing on the angst of those left at home, gives a rueful touch to the dualities of longing both at home and abroad.
The cheeky ‘Mary Had an Orgasm’ is easily the album’s best moment. Taking its title spin from Dido’s ‘Mary is in India’, the song follows the lead character, Mary, who just got back from the Abroad. She meets with a Nigerian Lothario who was to primarily show her around the city. However, unbeknownst to Mary, this emergency tour guide had other things to show—and ultimately, Mary had an orgasm.
One can read ‘Take Me Back to November’ as a continuation of Mary’s orgasm, albeit a sad one. It is a wistful song that pays obeisance to the beauty of autumn (see Wyclef’s ‘Gone Till November’).
‘Golden Eyes’, parsing on guitar riffs, sits on the cusp of murky memories. The final song, ‘The In-Between’ enjoys masterful delivery from every musician, but Adey Omotade on the drums is the man to beat. Brymo bends his voice in ways that make it seem like he was either born to be a rock band vocalist or he is super versatile.
Either way, Brymo is special.
The triumph of A.A.A. is that it affords new acoustic possibilities up Brymo’s range and adorns him with that feather in his cap: a live album.
Brymo is both the star and the winner of this project.