‘Helped by God’ and ‘Thankful’ Show Ladunni becoming more comfortable without words

Up to that point her output had proven she could sing, also Living Water showed that she was into letting production do the talking without a lead vocal. With Helped by God and Thankful she goes further into the second. The two instrumental releases are best played as company because their titles play out emotions and experiences usually told through testimony.

“Helped by God” is the start of a story. “Thankful” is its end.

Ladunni doesn’t tell either.

Instead the Nigerian Christian artist and producer uses the arrangements to put forth the emotional ideas behind those titles. These records depend almost entirely on her as a producer.

Helped by God carries the more complex narrative responsibility. Its title implies struggle, intervention and resolution. The production here needs movement; without it the title does the telling of the story more so than the music.

Ladunni’s strength is patience. She allows the composition to play out instead of constantly introducing new ideas to keep the interest. There is a reflective quality to the record which is in keeping with her earlier work.

Thankful approaches its subject from a different emotional place. Thankfulness brings in warmth, and the production is less about struggle and more about the atmosphere that follows it.

Neither track requires the listener to know Ladunni’s personal story to get the broad emotion.

That access is a value.

But the pair also bring to light the main issue at hand with her instrumental work.

Ladunni has put serenity forward as an important element of her production language. She now has to see to it that serenity does not turn into sameness. Gratitude, dependence, waiting, restoration and worship are different emotional experiences, even when they fall under the same faith.

Her best future productions will be those in which listeners can tell those differences without having to read the titles first.

Still Helped by God and Thankful shows her growth in comfort with the instrumental.

Many artists use production to support their stories.

Ladunni is going after something more complex: making production tell the story itself.