There’s something about songs that start with heavy drum kicks. Nine times out of ten, they end up being good. Maybe it’s just a hunch. But the opening seconds in Anointed Mark’s latest release, “Jehovah Is Your Name”, arrive with the same braggadocious drums, washing over one with that alluring charm.

Behind that immediate rush is Olaoluwa Oyebode, the Birmingham-based keyboardist, music director and producer credited on the record alongside its wider production team. His imprint quickly becomes one of the more interesting parts of the song, especially in the way the keys, drums and vocals are paced around one another.

Anointed, born Mark Okeagu, enters immediately with his tempered baritone, firing up the pulse with that mid-tempo drift, ‘Jehovah is your name/ No one on earth can take your place.’ Oyebode’s soothing piano chords slice into the atmosphere, with subtle handbells and a backing choir flanking the sombre worship groove into position. As Anointed switches into a call-and-response, cueing his choir with sporadic bursts of ad-libs, the instrumentation swivels with him from moody to airy tones.

The pacing in “Jehovah Is Your Name” is the first winning horse in this record. The song does not wait. It grabs the listener with packed momentum from its first to final verses. Oyebode’s keys help regulate that movement, sometimes arriving as soft passing chords, and elsewhere swelling underneath Anointed’s dramatic crescendos. Those shifts give the record that distinct groove common in Black Christian worship music, where the instrumentalists constantly react to the vocalist and the emotional temperature in the room.

Anointed’s soft baritone animates the chanty bursts of ad-libs across the second and third verses. When he chants, ‘No one can take your place/ Jesus come take your place,’ a cinematic, suspenseful synth-and-drum run rises behind him. The arrangement suddenly feels larger. The music flattens the room, bringing the listener closer to its soul.

Oyebode’s strongest contribution is probably this instrumental-vocal sync. There’s an understanding of intentional pauses throughout the record. His piano sometimes withdraws just enough for Anointed’s voice to sit almost naked in the arrangement, before the drums and synths rush back into the space. These little pockets allow the worship to breathe. They also give the song the dynamic feel of a live performance, where every instrumental response seems tethered to what the singer is doing in the moment.

Again, the instrumentation never overwhelms Anointed’s baritone or the choir’s sharp tenors. Oyebode’s keyboarding helps pace them forward, stitching together the softer stretches and the song’s more charismatic peaks. There’s hardly a dull stretch across the seven-minute runtime. The arrangement keeps conjugating snaps of intensity and release, allowing the listener to move from quiet reflection into a fuller worship groove.

That balance becomes the record’s most defining arc. Oyebode understands the duality of letting his piano remain warm and restrained, and letting the entire production swell. The keys often function like an emotional compass, gently steering the mood while the drums supply the muscle. It’s the kind of musicianship that feels particularly suited to church performance, where spontaneity and sensitivity to the vocalist can butcher or build how deeply a song lands.

For an approximately seven-minute song, “Jehovah Is Your Name” feels remarkably robust. It works especially well as a performance record for concerts and ministries. Its dynamic composition evades the lull of monotony, moving through charismatic refrains, sober chants, choral responses and a falsetto-soaked closing section. Oyebode’s arrangement gives each of those moments enough space to register.

The song eventually closes with another percussive rush. A rain of cymbals hovers above Anointed’s ad-libbing, ‘We bless your name, Lord Jesus/ Somebody worship him!’ The choir’s tender ballads slowly fade from the space, while the instrumentation loosens its grip on the song. The tension finally melts.

For Oyebode, “Jehovah Is Your Name” is another convincing snapshot of the musicianship he has built across contemporary gospel and worship music. The Birmingham-based keyboardist currently serves as Music Director and Lead Keyboardist at Stars Nation Church, where he leads instrumentalists and vocalists across church productions. His experience as a live musician is easy to hear here. The piano responds. The arrangement breathes. The record moves like people are actually in the room.

That sensitivity gives “Jehovah Is Your Name” much of its charm. Oyebode helps steer its emotion, creating the spaces where Anointed Mark’s performance can truly soar.