Brian Brown, a.k.a. King Brian, a multi-talented MTSU grad, has his hands in film, literature, music and other aspects of audio production. Reverse the Curse is his first proper release effort as an R&B singer following a string of one-off tracks uploaded to SoundCloud over the past few years.

The six-track EP finds Brian stepping into the vocal spotlight over bass-heavy productions from Nic West and Niles Mack. He tackles a mix of lyrical topics including the pursuit of love, interstellar fantasies, words of inspiration and even some straightforward rap wordplay.

Reverse the Curse begins with “The Way,” a song all about keeping it positive and persevering. The song is filled with lyrics encouraging the listener to follow his or her dreams, such as: A little motivation mixed with patience / It’s amazing what you can do when you don’t keep these naysayers around you.

The second cut is another highlight, “Girls From Other Worlds.” Brian takes the listener on an intergalactic journey to find new loves on Jupiter, Mercury and other celestial bodies. It has some top-notch spacey production behind it, which is fitting for the subject matter. Another high point on the release is the collaboration with Illinois rapper Shane-O entitled “Living My Life.” Brian can be heard flexing his lyrical rap muscle on the song, and he’s got a good flow. It’d be interesting for him to utilize that rapping skill on future releases.

The remaining songs take on the lyrical topic of love, but they just don’t fare as well and come off as a bit repetitive, impersonal and somewhat trite. For example, “Something About You” features a generic chorus about “feeling on” a woman and “get(ting) it poppin’.”

Reverse the Curse would benefit from some slightly shorter track lengths and maybe some more personal experiences in the lyrics, but it’s a fun listen nonetheless, laced with vocal and musical effects, and King Brian is a nice addition to the crop of young R&B singers to come out of Murfreesboro in the last few years.

King Brian’s Reverse the Curse EP is available on Bandcamp, Spotify, iTunes, Google Play and Amazon.