Album review: On Bed of Stone, Asa is the queen of hearts. And soul

By Wilfred Okiche

Bukola Elemide, better known as Asa is one of those artistes who could release an entire recording of their breathing and it would still sound musical to the ear. Since scaling music heights with her eponymous début body of work, Asa has become music royalty, carrying the burden of constantly having to provide her diverse audience- spanning continents- with impeccable music.

On her début, released in 2008, Asa came across as troubled, sad, tortured even, but transmitted that pain to her craft, and created an instant classic, a timeless collection of songs that sat comfortably between soul music of old and contemporary pop anthems. Songs like Eye Adaba, and Fire on the mountain are probably going to last many life times.

For her sophomore effort, Beautiful imperfection (2011), she let loose some of her baggage and revealed a brighter, more uninhibited side to her. Lead single, Be my man and Bimpe were some of the more infectious tunes bursting out of the disc. Asa was happy again and the record showed it.

For album number 3, the creeping melancholia is back, returning her songs to the moody, edgy space in which she seems to find plenty comfort in.

The album opener and lead single Dead again has a spoken word vibe and offers a brash Asa, finally standing up to a cheating lover. She is angry but in control and her strong vocal work is a powerful contrast to the mellow strumming of the piano, lending a rich, dramatic gravitas to the song. No more your freaking bullshit, no more your talk of lies/no more you putting me down, deceptive blue eyes, she opens forcefully.

Her stay in Nashville, Country music’s capital while working on this record sharpened her song-writing skills and this is reflected on the title track, Bed of stone. A strumming guitar accompanies the powerful story of a young girl struggling to make ends meet in a city far from home. A recording of the immigrant’s experience, the title track, Bed of stone possesses the unmistakable subtle twang of country music.

She moves down south to the swamps of New Orleans and derives some drama for the gospel -like energy of Satan be gone, an album highlight with a life force of its own. Here, Asa delivers in both her native language Yoruba and English, two wildly seemingly divergent melodies and exorcises her own demons. The song is both ancient and modern all at once

You cannot come home twice they say, but Asa returns to a place called home every time she touches down in Lagos from her Paris base. She comes home on every album too, whenever she records a gigantic ode to her home country. Eyo is one such song. A heart-warming burst of colourful nostalgia with an all enveloping chorus that was surely made to be sung along to. This is the one song everyone will be singing from this record, from the side walks of Paris to the slums of Mushin.

In Moving on she paints a picture of someone picking up the pieces of her life following a rape. Her song writing is sparse and free of unnecessary flourishes as she cuts straight to the chase; I had to run away and hide/ something happened in the middle of the night/they came inside without a sound/suddenly my life was turned upside down, she sings matter -of-factly. It is a brutal song but not without hope, as she moves through the stages of denial, pain, mistrust and acceptance.

The song writing on Bed of stone is top notch, Asa’s vocal delivery is precise but it is the arrangement of the music that takes the cake. Working with British producer, Blair MacKichan who has arranged songs for Sia and Lily Allen in the past, Asa sets every song afire with its very own melody. Whether it is the intricate guitars, piano strums, hand clapping or the joyous shimmying of feet, every song is an adventure and is as much a part of the record as they are stand alone singles. And every one of the songs is recognizable as an Asa original.

12 cuts deep with 2 bonus tracks contained in the deluxe edition, Asa’s scars are back on this record, visible for all to see. How did you love me, a sweeping ballad that contemplates finding love just when one has given up on it is stirring, lifting and deeply affecting, almost therapeutic in its approach of the topic. And Asa’s voice.  She stretches it but never tears it, bends but does not break into over singing diva territory. There is always a control she exerts at moments when you think she is finally ready to break loose. This works in most parts, especially when she wants the message and the poignancy to hit home hard, but at times one wants to forget the message and just listen to pure unadulterated pop music that makes a beeline straight for the soul. One gets the feeling that the music is too important to her. No space for raw improvisation, every note is exactly where it should be.

In The one that never comes, a traditional power ballad if ever there was one, Asa sings about the awkwardness of discovering that the love you have been waiting for has been right in front of you all the time. On this song Asa proves (once again) that she can belt it out with the best of them but still manages to rein it in tightly without going overboard.

But it is not all stormy emotions on this record. There is an ultimate resignation to the will of God on Grateful, a blissful, groovy gospel number that takes it to church and back and New Year is a soul stirrer that preaches the importance of embracing one’s self. Singing along is definitely mandatory.

Bed of stone is nothing short of musical magic. It charts Asa’s musical growth as a woman and as an artiste and places some of her world weariness front and center. But it does this in a purely enjoyable manner. No one record released this year is likely to deliver the undiluted thrill that this record packs. It is soul and pop and gospel and R&B, with everything else in between. The mood may be dark but the sound is inherently uplifting.

Asa is the queen of hearts. And Soul too.

Now, how about that national honour?

Culled from ynaija.com