In the two years since his debut EP, The One Who Descends, the scope of Yarden’s music has only grown more granular, acquiring a soulful edge to match the rising star’s ambition. In Yarden’s world, emotions like desire, inhibition and romantic acceptance are in constant communication with each another, resulting in an always emotionally affecting take on Afrobeats. The singer’s second EP, Muse, delivers the theatre of that interaction while assessing the cost of laying one’s heart bare in the jagged landscape of the 21st-century dating scene. Across Muse, Yarden guides listeners through an odyssey of feelings, encountering—at different turns—rejection, elation, disbelief and despondency. He’s less a hero than a stand-in for the most lovesick among us, like on “Julie,” where he’s promising to go all-out for a partner, despite them constantly toying with his feelings. Undeterred, he continues to show up for love: “Come make we groove baby,” he pleads on the flamenco-adjacent “Joanna”. He receives a reprieve on “Soul”, where he’s getting attention and love at long last, even if he’s too delirious to soak it in. When guests join, they extend the lovelorn narrative of Muse in their unique fashion: fellow Nigerian rising star taves is the perfect foil for a sulking reflection on being jilted on “Ifeoma”, while Mellissa’s sirenic vocals help guide Muse towards a hopeful resolution on “ME & U”.