Abidemi Sax’s “Selenkejo” is a tender, slow-burning performance that rewards close listening.

The release, packaged as a two-track single alongside “Ife Osupa,” announces itself with the modest confidence of an artist who trusts the music to speak first. It’s a short offering (just under eight minutes across the two tracks) but one that refuses to be small.

From the opening notes of “Selenkejo”, you feel Abidemi’s dual affinities: for jazz’s pliant phrasing and for the melodic contours of his Nigerian origin. The sax converses, sometimes leaning into a growl, stretching into a pearly, searching line that feels more prayer than solo.

There’s an affability to the tone that suggests old reeds and long practice, an honesty in the way motifs return and reshape themselves rather than repeat.

The track’s production maintains a generous space: percussion and well-balanced low-end sit under the sax, giving it a mix of a solid, well-punctuated foundation.

“Ife Osupa,” the single’s companion piece, acts as a tender foil. Where “Selenkejo” is reflective and urbane, “Ife Osupa” leans into lyricism, the saxline threading through a softer, almost lullaby-like bed of harmony.

The contrast between the two tracks shows Abidemi’s range as an artist who can inhabit the streetwise, conversational jazzman and the romantic, melodic player who writes lines that broaden his musical perspectives.

That willingness to move between modes gives the single a small arc as a showcase of tone, technique, and temperament.

Listening to this release, what stands out is Abidemi’s ear for storytelling. The sax displays chops and tells a soothing love story. On “Selenkejo,” phrases are shaped like sentences; pauses are punctuation. The recording’s clarity bolsters that narrative sense.

You can hear the instrument’s huff and puff, a depiction of the friction of the reed, details that create proximity. This closeness makes the record feel like a live set in a small room, not a studio setting, the immediacy and a sense of being present for a moment that’s happening now.

The modest reverb that coats the tracks keeps things intimate rather than ethereal.

Abidemi Sax’s online presence (from his artist pages and social posts) frames him as a young, purposeful player, someone who makes music with faith and tenderness, and who has been quietly building a catalogue of singles and live performances.

That context matters here: “Selenkejo” sits within an evolving practice, not as a detached one-off. The single’s release across platforms — Apple Music, Amazon, Anghami and YouTube — signals a deliberate, if understated, push to get the music into varied listening rooms.

It’s the sort of release that benefits from patient discovery, the kind of track you hear late at night on a playlist and then find yourself returning to in the mornings.

If there’s any critique, it’s the temptation that brevity creates: one wants more. At under four minutes, “Selenkejo” gives just enough of its story to whet the appetite; it’s the kind of piece that invites an extended exploration.

A longer development section, or a second movement, might have allowed Abidemi to press deeper into the themes he teases but perhaps the restraint is intentional.

There’s dignity in leaving the listener wanting; not every record needs to fill every possible moment. The balance between suggestion and fulfilment is itself an aesthetic choice, and here it mostly works in the song’s favour.

“Selenkejo” is an invitation to the musical diversity of Abidemi Sax. The single hints at a musician growing both in tone and in taste, reflecting Abidemi Sax as an artist who prefers dialogue over spectacle, and who trusts that a properly told musical sentence will linger in the listener’s mind.

What “Selenkejo” offers is simple but deeply felt. It’s a reminder that instrumental music, when handled with sincerity, can still touch the parts of us that words often miss.

It’s this quiet assurance, this sense that the music is reaching for something honest, that gives the track its staying power.

If this is a sign of where he’s headed, then Abidemi is on the brink of a far more adventurous chapter.