Leyla McCalla shares new single ‘Love We Had’
LEYLA MCCALLA SHARES NEW SINGLE ‘LOVE WE HAD’
NEW ALBUM SUN WITHOUT THE HEAT OUT 12 APRIL VIA ANTI-
“An ambitious, accomplished piece of work”
4/5 The Observer
“An exquisite distillation of hope and perseverance, mystery and humanity”
4/5 Mojo
“A powerful history of Haitian journalism in musical form”
8/10 Uncut
“Starkly beautiful, the melodies graceful and the message compelling”
4/5 Songlines
Listen to ‘Love We Had’ here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoGDnjWKY2c
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Originally written and performed by Ethiopian artist and activist Ali Mohammed Birra, Leyla McCalla has shared her Tropicalia-inflected interpretation of ‘Love We Had’ today. This follows previously shared singles ‘Scaled To Survive‘ and ‘Tree‘.
Serving as an African Diasporic declaration of sonic freedom in the face of all that has kept us apart from one another, ‘Love We Had’ is featured on McCalla’s new album and fifth studio recording, Sun Without the Heat. Throughout Sun Without the Heat’s ten tracks, McCalla is playful and full of joy while holding the pain and tension of transformation. She achieves a balance of heaviness and light with melodies and rhythms derived from various forms of Afro-diasporic music including Afrobeat, Ethiopian modalities, Brazilian Tropicalismo, and American folk and blues. “I like it when music feels urgent”, McCalla says, “but I also wanted the new album to be playful and fun. I wanted that levity to come through”.
Sun Without the Heat was recorded in an intense nine-day session at Dockside Studies in New Orleans. Produced by Maryam Qudus, McCalla was joined by longtime bandmates and collaborators Shawn Myers on percussion and drums, Pete Olynciw on electric bass and piano, and Nahum Zdybel on guitars. Qudus is featured on synthesisers, organs and backing vocals.”
Usually, I go into the studio and have the songs and the framework already in mind”, says McCalla. “But with this album, we built the frame in real time. It was an intimidating process, but it also helped me realize how held I am by the musicians I work with”.The result is a transcendent collection of songs that hold the personal and universal, carrying grief and joy at once. Through this album, McCalla explores the elements of transformation and the heat necessary to move from darkness toward light.This spring McCalla will be performing at a slew of US music festivals, including Cayamo, Big Ears, High Water, New Orleans Jazz and more. All upcoming dates are listed here, UK dates will follow.
Photo Credit: Chris Scheurich
High-res images can be found here
Pre-order Sun Without the Heat here:
https://leylamccalla.ffm.to/swth
Sun Without the Heat tracklist:
1. Open the Road
2. Scaled to Survive
3. Take Me Away
4. So I’ll Go
5. Tree
6. Sun Without the Heat
7. Tower
8. Love We Had
9. Give Yourself a Break
10. I Want to Believe
Praise for Breaking The Thermometer:
“An ambitious, accomplished piece of work”
4/5 The Observer
“An exquisite distillation of hope and perseverance, mystery and humanity”
4/5 Mojo
“A powerful history of Haitian journalism in musical form”
8/10 Uncut
“Starkly beautiful, the melodies graceful and the message compelling”
4/5 Songlines
“A haunting, heartfelt immersion in Haitian history, fully invested and alive with poignancy and power”
4/5 Record Collector
“Starkly beautiful, the melodies graceful and the message compelling”
4/5 Songlines
‘4/5’ The FT
“Beautifully textured voice as powerful in English as it is in Kreyòl”
8/10 God Is In The TV
“Full of revolutionary spirit”
The FADER
“There’s a rich sense of poetry that Leyla McCalla’s delivery pushes to a different sphere”
Clash
“A balmy, beautiful and necessary form of protest”
Beats Per Minute
“A vivid portrait and soundtrack of the stories and memories of Haiti”
Stance
“It is an extremely intelligent album, but it is also a warm, hopeful, angry, questioning one”
Folk Radio