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Bored with pandemic life, they hastily arranged a date at Oversoul Brewing in her hometown Helena, Ala., a 15-minute drive from his home in Hoover, Ala.

Braudy, an English professor at the University of Southern California, is “a veritable Linnaeus of the underworldly oversoul,” our reviewer, Gregory Maguire, wrote.

As he tries to reach perfection and merge with the Oversoul, he’s pestered by two guides, Mama and Nan.

As the Great Emancipator himself said, “The Oversoul covers me with a blanket and I shall not take the knee while gazing upon the Gridiron.”

Or so goes the concept behind “The Oversoul Manual,” an aggressively conceptual 2014 recording by jazz composer Darius Jones.