With great faith comes the desire to constantly express it; to sing it loud and proud with conviction. While you won’t find any vocals in the new single “My Talents” from rising star Tolu. A, the track definitely isn’t running short on honest statements, most of which come directly from the piano keys. Tolu. A doesn’t hold back from giving us a swaggering performance beside two sensational collaborators in this song and its music video, both of which I would consider to be premium content coming from a previously untested and unproven rookie in the game. 

The piano part here is truly an agent of lust, but were it not arranged to haunt both the frontend and the backdrop within the mix I don’t know that it would be as dominant in the track as it is in this instance. A steady hand behind the glass definitely ensures both diversity of tone and a well-structured song in general, and in the case of “My Talents” I think that producers deserve as much credit for the single’s success as the performers themselves. It’s rather top shelf in comparison to what Tolu. A’s contemporaries are doing, but not the sole reason why this track works so well. 

I love the increased presence of the percussion as we push along in “My Talents,” and although it builds the tension up to such a degree that the keys eventually have nowhere to go, it makes the sax part all the more cathartic in the grander scheme of things. It’s relatively easy to come up with a handful of verses that rhyme or a general linguistic narrative you want to share in a pop song, but to construct something out of intellectual compositional technique and emotion exclusively – without using any lyrics at all – is to be an artist in every capacity, and that’s what Tolu. A is doing here. 

Secularists and anointed saints the same would be doing themselves quite the disservice in skipping over this inspirational new instrumental from Tolu. A this December. I don’t think you have to be a big crossover jazz fan to appreciate its complexities, and whether you’re usually into instrumental music or not doesn’t hold much relevance, either. Tolu. A is an amazingly gifted player, and in this song he gives us some of the most muscular work he has released in his budding career to date. 

Zachary Rush