Leyla McCalla shares title track of forthcoming album ‘Sun Without The Heat’

Leyla McCalla has shared the title track from her forthcoming new album Sun Without the Heat, which is set to be released on 12 April via ANTI-.

The album is playful and full of joy while also holding the pain and tension of transformation. 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 has also announced a string of UK festival dates including Cambridge Folk Festival, Greenbelt, and Shambala which are part of an extensive run of shows throughout Europe and the US. US dates also include a special show in New York as part of a duo with Marc Ribot.

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".

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 an alumna of Grammy award-winning Black string band The Carolina Chocolate Drops.

Her 2022 album Breaking the Thermometer, an album that traced the story of the journalists at Radio Haiti who risked their lives to report news in Haitian Kreyol, identifying the critical importance of a free and independent press to promote self and societal liberation.

Save the date for Sun Without the Heat, and watch the video for the song of the same name:

Upcoming tour

• 9 Apr - New Orleans, LA @ Broadside

• 11 Apr - Washington, DC @ The Kennedy Center

• 12 Apr - New York, NY @ Joe's Pub

• 13 Apr - Albany, NY @ The Egg

• 20 Apr - North Charleston, SC @ High Water Festival

• 26 Apr - New Orleans, LA @ NOLA Jazz & Heritage Festival

• 28 Apr - Tallahassee, FL @ Word of South Festival

• 2 May - Washington, CD @ Poetry Out Loud (solo)

• 14 Jun - New York City, NY @ New York Guitar Festival (in duo with Marc Ribot)

• 26 Jun - Chatauqua, NY @ Chatauqua Institution

• 5 Jul - Portland, OR @ Waterfront Blues Festival

• 19 Jul - Amarante, PT @ MIMO Festival

• 21 Jul - Koblenz, DE @ Horizonte Festival

• 24 Jul - Krems, AT @ Glatt und Verkehrt

• 25 Jul - Innsbruck, AT @ Treibhaus

• 27 Jul - Cambridge @ Cambridge Folk Festival

• 2 Aug - Crozon, FR @ Festival du Bout du Monde

• 24 Aug - Kettering @ Greenbelt Festival

• 25 Aug - Northampton @ Shambala Festival

• 9 Sep - New Haven, CT @ CT Folk Fest

• 8 Nov - Dijon, FR @ La Vapeur

• 9 Nov - Plaisir, FR @ La Clé Des Champs

• 12 Nov - Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie

• 14 Nov - Luxembourg, Lux @ Philharmonie Luxembourg

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