Make It Easy

Every now and then, a song moves me to the page…

Before I stepped into the shower yesterday, I decided to (finally) listen to ‘Tequila Ever After’, Adekunle Gold’s new album. When I’m listening to an album of interest for the first time, I run through the songs in order, while subconsciously keeping an ear out for the first ‘call to repeat’, the track that stops me from moving forward because I just have to replay it. ‘Make It Easy’ was it for this album, and I’m not sorry to say I haven’t listened to any of the songs that come after this one, because this track has been on repeat since yesterday. It goes down like really smooth, really good tequila; the kind you wake up after drinking, and realize didn’t even give you a headache. I plan to get to the rest of the album, just after I’ve taken my time with this track that lives up to its name; till my soul has drunk to its fill.

I don’t require music to move me to write; it feeds me in so many other ways that feel essential and transcending words. But the right song in the right moment, every now and then, moves me to the page. This one kept unfolding in my ears. With every repeat, it crept and clung to my heart with urgency, and on the seventh or tenth listen, the structure for a writing project I’m working on flashed brightly. I heard it in the gentle call and response of the two vocalists, in the uncluttered keyboard chords bubbling underneath, in the steady du-du-ke of the bass drum and snare, in the easy brilliance of the track’s smooth, perfectly executed ensemble. So what can I say, but a teary, soulful thank you to Adekunle Gold, Coco Jones, and their production team? I’m grateful for this ear of mine; it is a plumb line that runs straight to my heart.