Kayode Akinyemi’s “Psalm 150” surfaced this week as this writer’s most alluring pick among Christian Gospel music on rotation. Apart from its ingenious sonic direction, the record rings as a mood-stabilising praise jam that soars for its groovy composition and stellar delivery.
The song opens with a giddy Rock n Roll progression that combines uptempo drums with soothing guitar riffs, before switching into a fusion of Urban Christian Gospel, Soul and RnB. “I’m ready to praise him/ Lift your hands and say!” Akinyemi’s tenor cuts through the melodic section with jerking scat singing.
Reminiscent of Black American gospel praise anthems, the song picks a steady pace that establishes lyrical emphasis throughout the record, easing recall and enjoyability. “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord,” his lyrics simmer with emotional intensity in the hook, as the song grooves along its hypnotic tonal structure. The underlying African horn sections, tucked with uptempo guitars, spin off a very relatable feel to the record.
The icing on the cake for this record is layered on Akinyemi’s cadence, a slow-burn to raspy flow that rotates around energetic melismas and a blank chorus.
This approach kept the song memorable, with the uplifting instrumentation underlying his vocal performance. A chunk of the song contains scat singing, but Akinyemi’s airy articulation and strategic crescendos inject it with a pulsating groove.
The choral backing vocals equally stand out in the composition, fusing its arrangement with catharsis.
The drum solo improv that also midwives this section stamps further enjoyability to the entire composition. Think Marvin Snapp or Micah Stampley and you get a picture of Akinyemi’s delivery on this song. With Akinyemi, catharsis seems to be an effortless sleight of hand, considering his earlier records like “Big God” and “Worship My King”. In “Psalm 150”, he creates enough dramatic tension and release that keeps the listener on their feet, with a contagious groove.
Flipside, the record’s only flaw hovers around its anticlimactic outro. The record lacked the right amount of harmonic vocals to serenade its outro, especially with the failure to properly exploit the choral backing vocals to register a solid build-up.
Nonetheless, the drum improvs and cinematic pauses in this final melodic section help to deliver a satisfactory finish. In each Akinyemi expression, the musicality-message sync stands out as one of his most alluring pleasure-points.
Overall, Akinyemi’s “Psalm 150” connects strongly as a breath of fresh air within Nigerian Christian gospeldom. It’s a neat swipe at a fairly underexplored music style within the scene, which he delivers with mechanical accuracy.
The song feels like an earworm, a groovy companion for sullen hearts and a mood stabilising tune that is poised with sufficient replay value to rank it as an evergreen gem.
Akinyemi rose to fame after years of momentous rise within the Latter Rain Assembly, where he’s attended and performed since his teenage years. He’s performed across notable stages including House On The Rock, Redeemed Christian Church of God, Mountain of Fire Ministry, while also soaring as a live vocalist and recording artiste. He won the award for Best Contemporary Vocalist at MFM. His catalogue is available across YouTube and other streaming platforms.
