·March 31, 2022·2 min read

Trevour Amunga – Vespa | Transformative

Trevour Amunga is a rapper and songwriter based in Los Angeles. While he was born in Kenya, Trevour moved to the United States in 2008 with his family. He began working on his music after seeing the perils of the civil war in Kenya. Using poetry and authenticity to create a blend of massively emotional tracks, he has now released his latest album. Vespa features 7 songs with a total run time of just over 20 minutes.

The first track on the album, Piece of Mind, starts on a rather sharp synth that immediately grabs your attention. Trevour Amunga chimes in with his lead vocals and creates an instrument out of his word and voice. The beat is toned down, but there’s just something about the synth and wide drums that sounds so heavenly. Featuring Josh Berkely’s vocals that complement his sound so magnificently, Piece of Mind is a great intro to the album.

Body Memory and Glo feature Luna Bands’ angelic voice and are both amazing tracks in themselves. While Body Memory uses minimalistic techniques with some interesting percussions and intuitive melodies it sounds very whole. The deep beats, coupled with the light streaks in voices are simply sublime. Trevour Amunga has a similar flow and sound to that of J Cole which is pretty massive. He somehow creates music with a lot more flavour to it. Every element in Glo as well as Body Memory is so light, hazy and then the contrasting sounds with the deep beats kick in. There’s so much to explore with Trevour’s music.

Bleached is probably the darkest song on the album. While it doesn’t have particularly distinct features, it does have deeper beats and the synth is toned down significantly. However, the lyrics are probably the darkest part of the track. The little screeches and what sounds like yelps add to this antagonising atmosphere and it feels like Trevour voices his inner monologue through it.

Side By Side has a more Soul feature to it. The haunting vocals in the background, while this Frank Zappaesque guitar intro plays, are freakishly amazing! This song acts as an interlude on the album and it is one of the greatest I’ve heard in a long time. Moving on to Vertigo, the deep, dark, grim textures continue. The album seems to have moved further down the darkness with some elements of what seems like a comeback. The second Trevour Amunga starts rapping, it feels like the point in a story when the hero comes through their conflict in order to come back stronger.

Dec 28th is the perfect track to end the album on. It reverts back to the light, heavenly sounds that seem to exhibit resolution. Moreover, it feels like classic Trevour Amunga with so much growth. This album has been transformative and is definitely one for anyone who enjoys music of all sorts.