As the Sound Engineer for Nigerian music collective Euphonic, sound engineer Bond has helped craft his fair share of the Nigerian ‘New Age’s sounds. But now he’s stepping into the booth with a few bops of his own. Bond is the consummate Nigerian Millennial dabbling in multiple pies apart from Euphonic; specifically an indie record label Vision Inspired Music based in Ghana. With plugs to Ghana’s musical renaissance and it’s insistence on process and Nigeria’s ‘New Age’ preoccupation with wil experimentation, Bond is in a perfection position to bridge both disciplines. And he does so on his new ‘concept’ EP “Neighbours”.

With just two songs on the EP, there’s not quite enough music to gauge the breadth of its experimentation but Bond does show his chops on both songs. The first “Come Over” featuring Robin – Huws and Reynolds TGM (both signees to Bond’s Vision Inspired Music) is an afropop bop, heavy on the hand-held percussions and that non-committal tempo that Ghanaian hip-life has mastered excellently, occasionally shaking things up with classic EDM techniques, the bass heavy breakdown and a short piano sample that works as the song’s instrumental hook. Robin – Huws and Reynolds TGM acquit themselves quite well, but it is obvious that the song remains a showcase for Bond.

The second song “Labalaba” despite its very Yoruba title, is entirely a hip-life song, thanks to the force of nature that is the song’s vocalist and V.I.M signee Adomaa. She completely dominates the song, turning it into her own thing. Her breathy vibrato, dipping occasionally into lower octaves, demands attention and holds it, right down to the last note. Bond is a lot subtler on “Labalaba” too, playing with harp arrangements and and very electronic-y synth trumpeting to create a convenient wall of sound. The tail end of the song shifts into 90’s inspired dance percussion, an appropriate reprieve from the all the unrequited love that Adomaa builds through the earlier parts of the song. We definitely want a more extensive project from Adomaa.

Album art by Kofi Note tries the whole thing in a neat little bow, ready for you. You should hit play and keep it on repeat.

Listen to “Neighbours” here.

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