Leyla McCalla Shares Single 'Sun Without the Heat' From Upcoming Album

Ahead of its release this Friday, artist Leyla McCalla has just dropped the title track from her new album and fifth studio album Sun Without the Heat.

Throughout the record's ten tracks, McCalla 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.

McCalla drew lyrical inspiration on this album from the writings of Black feminist Afrofuturist thinkers, including Octavia Butler, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, and adrienne maree brown. Like these authors, McCalla looks to songwriting to increase faith and hope, encourage community thinking, and catalyze personal transformation. “Songwriting is a modality to tell the stories that need to be told,” she explains. “Sometimes these are painful stories to tell.”

About Leyla McCalla

Born in New York City to Haitian emigrants and activists, McCalla’s music vibrates with three centuries of history and influences from around the globe. She possesses a stunning mastery of the cello, tenor banjo and guitar and, as a multilingual singer and songwriter, has risen to produce a distinctive sound that reflects the union of her roots and experience. In addition to her solo work, McCalla is a founding member of Our Native Daughters (with Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah and Allison Russell) and alumna of Grammy award-winning Black string band The Carolina Chocolate Drops.

Her 2022 album ‘Breaking the Thermometer’ told the story of the brave journalists at Radio Haiti who risked their lives to report news in Haitian Kreyol, highlighting the critical importance of a free and independent press to promote self and societal liberation. ‘Breaking the Thermometer’ was named one of the Best Albums of the year by The Guardian, Variety, Mojo and NPR Music, and her song “Dodinin” made Barack Obama’s short list of favorites. McCalla was also awarded the 2022 People’s Voice Award by Folk Alliance International, an award given to artists who unabashedly embrace social change in their creative work. 

TOUR DATES

4/9 - New Orleans, LA @ Broadside
4/11 - Washington, DC @ The Kennedy Center
4/12 - New York, NY @ Joe’s Pub
4/13 - Albany, NY @ The Egg
4/20 - North Charleston, SC @ High Water Festival
4/26 - New Orleans, LA @ NOLA Jazz & Heritage Festival
4/28 - Tallahassee, FL @ Word of South Festival
5/2 - Washington DC @ Poetry Out Loud (solo)
6/14 - New York City, NY @ New York Guitar Festival (in duo with Marc Ribot)
6/26 - Chatauqua, NY @ Chatauqua Institution
7/5 - Portland, OR @ Waterfront Blues Festival
7/19 - Amarante, Portugal @ MIMO Festival
7/21 - Koblenz, Germany @ Horizonte Festival
7/24 - Krems, Austria @ Glatt und Verkehrt
7/25 - Innsbruck, Austria @ Treibhaus
7/27 - Cambridge, UK @ Cambridge Folk Festival
8/2 - Crozon, FR @ Festival du Bout du Monde
8/24 - Kettering, UK @ Greenbelt Festival
8/25 - Northampton, UK @ Shambala Festival
9/7 - New Haven, CT @ CT Folk Fest
11/8 - Dijon, FR @ La Vapeur
11/9 - Plaisir, FR @ La Clé Des Champs
11/12 - Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie
11/14 - Luxembourg, Lux @ Philharmonie Luxembourg

TRACK LISTING

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

Photo Credit: Chris Scheurich