The title of the newest release from Leyla McCalla, Sun Without The Heat, is a reference to a speech Frederick Douglass gave six years before the Emancipation Proclamation, foreshadowing a great struggle for progress, one we are still grappling with today.
While politics are never far from McCalla, her lyrics for this record focus more on bygone love, escapism, family, nature, and the passing of time, yet the music is the real attraction. McCalla (vocals, cello, banjo, guitars) and her band Shawn Myers (percussion, drums), Nahum Zdybel (guitars), Pete Olynciw (electric bass, piano), Maryam Qudus (synthesizers, organs, backing vocals), create a sonic texture throughout the record which makes it feel as if the listener is hearing the music through an old dusty radio, broadcasting from a distant tropical locale. Instruments seem to bend in humidity, nature comes alive while tempos shift in unique ways as if warped vinyl records are broadcasted slightly skipping and bobbling.
Sun Without The Heat kicks off with the bouncing African-inspired pop rock of “Open the Road” as the band bends and grooves with odd shifting and twisting in a joyous fashion. The vibe continues for “Scaled to Survive” which has gorgeous fluttering vocals from McCalla paired with her strong cello work, the warbling more-than-a-simple-ode “Give Yourself A Break” stays in this same unique vein while “Love We Had” takes the music from Ethiopian artist Ali Mohammad Birra and filters it through McCalla’s Haitian/New Orleans style with upbeat, bubbling energy.
Even better is the multi-layered “Take Me Away” which finds McCalla’s repetitive vocals filtered and stacked over bass, synths, and various levels of sounds as the fun dance vibe builds and builds with dynamite percussion. The buzzing “Tower”, with guest Louis Michot on fiddle, starts acoustic but swells dramatically with snapping snares, vibrantly snaking electric guitars, and swirling synths/key work.
Things dip down on the wandering “So I’ll Go” which feels deliberately lazy and ends up floating along for too long without much to offer at times, in the love songs, McCalla’s, lyrics can border on banal, however, the staggering album centerpiece “Tree” makes up for any downtime. The naturalist story song is a whirlwind of emotions through an intoxicating musical journey from acoustic to disjointed, to triumphant, before arriving at an uncertain conclusion. Incredibly theatrical, the song is a stunner feeling like three acts wrapped up in five and a half minutes.
McCalla smartly follows it up with the stripped-down title track, showcasing her voice and struggle, while album closer “I Want To Believe” also takes this direction lyrically, but uses piano, cello, and a chorus of chirping crickets musically, as the Louisiana night swallows the record. Sun Without The Heat is an engaging musical journey through Leyla McCalla and her band’s vast influences as the impressive artist keeps crafting engaging music for the body and mind.
