This EP from the very young Nigerian-born, Canadian beat maker Hanson Ogbegie is the kind of thing I imagine turning on late at night on Christmas Eve, when you’re not quite ready to go to bed yet and you just want to pour yourself a special drink, take in the lights of the Christmas tree and enjoy some quiet time before all hell breaks loose.
Don’t get me wrong; there’s nothing Christmasy about the record. It’s just that Hanson has created such a cozy, intimate mood with this all-instrumental album that my mind can’t help but drift off to the quietest, most cozy, contented moments I can conjure up. Heck, he even has a track here called “Cozy Corner.”
To my ear, the record is a mixture of current RnB and vintage pop and jazz – the kind of arrangements you hear on recordings from the Great American Songbook. And perhaps it’s those influences that make it sound so Christmasy in places. Take for instance, the opening piano lines of “Silent Echoes,” which recall the opening of White Christmas.
Regardless, the two genres work really well together offering a mixture of cool beats and grooves and warm flourishes of sax and piano. I’m not sure if Hanson is actually playing these instruments or creating this music entirely digitally, but whatever he’s doing, he’s got good taste.
Also, I’ll give him credit for knowing how to edit himself. There are eight tracks on this EP but six of them are under three minutes, and three of them are under two. Hanson, who three years ago was making vlogs about his morning routine getting ready for high school, clearly has the maturity and humility not to over milk his ideas.
This is an uplifting little album that’s perfect for this time of year.
