Album Review- Leyla McCalla - Breaking the Themometer

Another of this year’s finds from Uncut magazine. McCalla played in the Carolina Chocolate Drops (the band fronted by Rhiannon Giddens- and after spending time with them, then focused on a solo career. Breaking the Thermometer is her fourth album. It is an ambitious project that I hope I can explain well enough in a few words- that celebrates Radio Haiti - not for simply being the first Haitian radio station, but also for its stands against corruption and stance for democracy. (Google Jean Dominique and Michele Montas, as well as the Fort Dimanche prison for a better job of understanding the gravitas of what this all means). Also, of course, McCalla’s personal journey as a Haitian American. From my understanding, drawing from a larger Duke University theater project about Dominique and Radio Haiti- it is a mix of traditional Haitian tunes, original music, interviews and personal insights. Of the many take aways, one is “how deep the Haitian roots of New Orleans (run)”. At the risk of sounding crass, all that is fascinating but is the album any good, and here’s the thing, it is. The “documentary” style format make it feel like it wouldn’t hold up for repeat listenings but it’s no bother. McCalla of course is fantastic. A classically trained cellist, she also plays banjo and guitar here. The songs are often minimal but still quite powerful. It almost seems counterintuitive that such an ambitious project could succeed in the space of a traditional album that one would want to listen to again and again in whatever day to day format they choose, but she truly did.