Roger O'DonnellBrother Wallace got into music at the age of eleven playing piano for his church in Georgia. He has notably shared the stage with gospel legend Kirk Franklin and worked as a backup vocalist for the band The Heavy. He currently works at K-12, as a music teacher and since signing to ATO Records, he is hoping to break out and get his music known.
Exploring Electric Love
Electric Love is his debut album, released on May 8th 2026. It’s an album created from powerful soul music both classic and southern, mixed with an influence from his gospel roots. An electrifying and joyful experience throughout.
“Who’s That”
The first song of the album starts off with bouncy and rhythmic drumming. Brother Wallace’s singing comes in and immediately fills the senses. Starting high he performs with an incredibly powerful and captivating voice. I instantly get reminiscent of the early 2000’s, it certainly carries that nostalgic feel with a tint of modern soul. The low parts of the song give you just enough time to settle before the next rise of his boomy voice and its back onto the roller coaster of energy.
“Your The Man”
The second song of the album comes in a lot more bluesy to it’s predecessor. Brother Wallace sings in a more consistent low tone and you can feel his soul is blended throughout. We get hits of electric guitar, a bit of jazzy saxophone with both adding to that bouncy dynamic.
“Gone With The Wind”
“Gone with the wind” is more of a relaxed song. It gives me a feeling of moving lightly with the wind, which makes the title an excellent choice. This tune feels the most drawn from his gospel roots out of all the songs so far.
“Electric Love”
This song which inspired the title of this album starts with a very punchy tempo. There is an incredible amount of effort put into this instrumental, from the acoustics, bass, saxophones, it all adds to the music without crowding. I found myself coming out of the end of this song incredibly upbeat and high on the pure energy Brother Wallace has put in. There is a good balance between the lyrics and instrumental to where you can’t miss either whilst listening.
“Top Shotta”
Top Shotta brings on a strong piano ballad and returns to the low tone lyricism. He sings about a dangerous area in his locale, of gangs and the unfortunate life they live. Whilst there is little variety of instruments, they still make for a punchy and full sound.
“No God In This Town”
Back to the calm, slow vibes, “No God In This town” brings a nice and relaxed feeling to my ears. It’s gentle instrumental, paired with Brothers melancholic lyrics, create a truly deep and meaningful story. I could really feel the insight and regret he discovered through the atmosphere created with his choice of lyrics.
“Who Do You Love”
Throwing a curve ball into the albums theme is “Who Do You Love”. It’s intrumental is closer to rock than we have seen from other songs in this lineup. The electric guitar bends and rhytm give it a rocky bounce and will defineltey get you moving. There is of course the common theme of soul mixed in and some elements of classy jazz, just in case you think he couldn’t add anymore.
“Any Day Now”
This tune is more of a sullen ballad, the lyrics are a lot more on the depressive side. The song uses little instruments with just Brothers vocals, a pianist and violin. Whilst the story through his lyrics is great, I found it a bit too sad and low energy as a choice to follow up after “Who Do You love”.
“A Patient Man”
This tune starts low in energy but overtime Brother comes in with those high energy, belty vocals. Overall the lyrics are simple and minimal, but as with other tracks the instrumental is what carrys the song for me.
“Midnight Valley”/”Jealous”
This song for me has felt on the more pop side in contrast to others on this album. It contains a nice backing track with a bit of hip bounce, whilst the focus is almost entirely on the lyrics. This style can also be found in his following tune “Jealous”, with the addition of some backup singers and a slightly more gospel feel to the song.
“Hope Of Fools”
On to our second last song of this album, we get a bluesy piano ballad. It’s low energy instrumentally but Brother’s voice certainly feels influenced by the blues and brings that power you would expect from some of blues early artists like BB King.
“Let’s Get Together”
The final track of the album “Let’s Get Together” is a high energy, bouncy track. It’s influence is very gospel and reminds me of a gospel choir closing song towards the end of church. It’s back to his roots with a great mix of gospel and soul, even some jazz mixed in.
Conclusion
Brother Wallace’s debut album for me has been an excellent experience. It encompasses all I was hoping for. From a singer with such a rich and plentiful gospel and soul music background I could really hear and feel all these playing their part. He has really showed us his musical talent as both a teacher and performer. The intruments were always a spot on match for the song and used a variety of layers to add to the rollercoaster of a journey throughout this album. I am incredibly impressed by Brother Wallace and can’t wait to check out what he has coming next.
