Enveloped in indigo and embarking on a journey of self-discovery, Leyla McCalla and her band joyfully perform the track ‘Open The Road’ in her new video for the song, out today. Directed by Zuri Obi, watch it below.
Watch ‘Open The Road’:
‘Open The Road’ is featured on ‘Sun Without The Heat’, McCalla’s fifth studio album and second for ANTI- Records. “She delves into West African and Brazilian polyrhythms flowing underneath lyrics that, at times, feel like a prayer or mantra,” explained The Bluegrass Situation. 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.”
The album’s title is also a literary reference which pulls from Frederick Douglass’s 1857 speech to a largely white crowd of abolitionists six years before the Emancipation Proclamation. His words echo in the song: “You want the crops without the plow / You want the rain without the thunder / You want the ocean without the roar of its waters.” Douglass’s point — which McCalla weaves into the song’s central message —is that liberation and equity are not possible without committing to transformative action.
“We all want the warmth of the sun but not everybody wants to feel the heat,” McCalla explains. “You have to have both.”
This spring McCalla has also been giving some of her most engaging live performances to date, with New Orleans’ OffBeat Magazine saying of her Jazz Fest set: “I’ve not seen Leyla McCalla perform since way back when she was busking in the French Quarter. To put it mildly, a few things have happened since in her career, and now I see why she has acolytes who swear by her live show.” Remarking on her performance at Highwater Fest, Under the Radar added: “In spite of the rapidly rising temperature, Leyla McCalla’s set was a cool and breezy one. The New Orleans-based artist impressed by playing guitar, banjo and cello over the course of her set. Though with folk underpinnings, McCalla’s set was delightfully jammy as well.”
Praise for Leyla McCalla:
“Truly uplifting” – Mojo, ★★★★
“Inspired, joyous moments of musicality” – Clash
“The most engaging, dynamic and, crucially, personal of her five solo albums” – SPIN
“Channels Afrobeat, folk, blues, and Brazilian Tropicália on a voyage of self-discovery… the music itself is so striking” – NPR
Order ‘Sun Without the Heat’
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
https://leylamccalla.com/
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