You’d be forgiven for thinking Brenique’s music comes straight out of the 2000s. In the best way, she embodies that era’s love for hearty songwriting and its favored sonic arrangements. The crucial distinction in the music of this Nigerian-born, UK-based artist is that she performs faith-based music, employing her art as a vehicle to reach the doorsteps of divinity. Oasis is a short, beautiful collection that rubberstamps her grasp on this kind of music.
Comprising five songs, one quickly perceives the cohesion across the EP. It makes sense—whereas a convention of the album is to contort into as many shapes as a core sound could carry, the shorter form’s ambition is quite different. There, intensity is the primary conduit of emotions, crafted to impress the highest levels of whatever suggestions the artist has designed for their audience. Brenique shows an understanding of that essential difference by working among parallel thematic and sonic registers, favoring energetic production that doesn’t compete with the message, but enlivens it.
Doer of your Word, the project opener, is swung along by the easy rhythm of the production. The drums and guitar are just the right tone, allowing the singer to wax grateful about the endless love of God. Produced by Andy Ross, who also mixed and mastered it, the sonic chemistry with Brenique is replicated again on Light. A motivational song, the singer urges the listener to “shine [their] light for the world to see,” a liberating process evoked in the soft-rock bounce of the production.
Indeed, this swinging, pop-centric tone is a recurring element in the EP, reflecting Brenique’s artistic relationship with the United Kingdom music scene. For in the application, there’s a decidedly intimate edge that comes from what would be presumed to be the influences she’s seeped in over the years. When paired with her unique perspective, this becomes a horizon bearing down several positive qualities, all audible in the music.
Then it becomes clear that Brenique’s voice is an instrument of its own, as the most effective voices must be. Throughout these five songs, there’s a constantly refreshing way she approaches vocal technique, which leads onto the masterful restraint she shows on the closer Great Is Thy Faithfulness, her rendition of one of gospel’s most enduring classics. On Light In The Dark (LITD), she invites a vocal community to colour the record even more, resulting in one of the most exciting moments all tape long. Chiefly backed by The Epoch House, the drums and production are done by Itunu Joe, with extra production from Chubi Nweke.
Prayer is the song where her vocals shine the most. Barely rising above the rub of a finger on a percussive instrument, the production is wistful, and she uses her bubbly voice to further color the seams. It’s a technical skill she pulls off beautifully, further revealing Brenique’s musical astuteness.
Considering how well she works with instruments, I would have loved to hear a bit more African influences on the tape, perhaps a section given to an indigenous drum like bata. That would have given the random listener a sense of where Brenique is coming from, and hopefully, her future music will incorporate these sensibilities, especially considering how exciting the gospel scene has become in her home continent; there’s a lot of potential in fusing their sensibilities.
Not minding what she does on forthcoming projects, the first-time listener of Brenique will surely be met with depth and emotion on this one. As the title suggests, Oasis is music offering something a bit more tender in a world where the tough is prized. It is a refreshing burst of optimism when it seems the world would crash from above us. In this way, Brenique is a messenger of the good news, bringing comfort to whoever listens to this project that has been delicately put together.
