ALBUM REVIEW: Leyla McCalla Rises Up on ‘Sun Without the Heat’
Jim Shahen
Posted On April 9, 2024
You almost certainly know this already, but life is full of ups and downs, transcendent highs and profound lows. Or as Leyla McCalla puts it on “Scaled to Survive,” the second track on her excellent new LP Sun Without the Heat, “life is not a straight line.”
“Scaled to Survive,” with its sunny melody and lyrics about overcoming hardship to find existential joy, provides a look at the overarching themes at work on Sun Without the Heat. At its core, it’s a record about finding faith and happiness amidst the tumult and tribulations of life.
Leyla McCalla (photo by Chris Scheurich)
McCalla delivers these messages through a diverse sonic palette and vocal array. “Take Me Away” combines elements of Afrobeat and calypso for a percussive, rhythmic groove. McCalla’s voice is alternately dreamy, floating over the top as she sings, “Take me away to that far away place,” and soulful on the verses when calling for the strength to physically and spiritually transcend.
On “So I’ll Go,” McCalla channels her inner Billie Holiday. She pines for a love that’s within reach, but she just can’t have. It’s a beautiful song and a high point on the album, and from a vocal standpoint, it’s one of the finest performances of her career.
While “So I’ll Go” is marked by McCalla’s bold vocals, “Tree” is punctuated by an ambitious musical arrangement. It starts straightforward enough, McCalla’s vocals lilting gently over a subdued accompaniment. But once she stops singing halfway through, the song moves from easy shuffle to cacophonous jazz fusion guided by a pretty wild electric guitar solo from Nahum Zdybel.
The songs on Sun Without the Heat are so well-crafted, performed, and produced that one could easily go through each song and find something worth singling out for praise. The title track expertly weaves an 1857 Frederick Douglass speech to deliver a message on the work necessary to achieve a better world. “Love We Had” is just a damn good song with an indelible rhythm that you can’t stop yourself from moving to. And then there’s closing track “I Want to Believe” where McCalla … well, you get the point.
From start to finish, Sun Without the Heat is a wonderful listening experience and sure to make many best-of lists this year.
Leyla McCalla’s Sun Without the Heat is out April 12 on Anti- Records.
