“No one really knows me yet, but they’re going to.”
Antrim based KALLA released his new single ‘SOUL’
on 2nd March 2022 as a reintroduction to his sound and precursor for upcoming releases.
Despite being open to interpretation, ‘SOUL’ takes listeners on a journey alongside KALLA as he discusses the struggles he’s faced connecting with his mixed heritage. A voice of self-acceptance, KALLA’S light and airy vocals blend perfectly with the dreamlike backing track; working together to produce a sound that is the epitome of the spring and summer seasons. As the beginning and end of the track flow seamlessly into one another, this track may as well have been crafted to be on repeat.
“‘SOUL’ came very naturally, at around 4AM when I couldn’t sleep. I write songs because it’s hard to talk about different parts of my life casually; I wanted to address my wish of being more in tune with, and connected to, my Grandpa and his side of the family, he came over from India and that’s a part of my heritage I would really like to explore more of. It wasn’t passed down by hand, I’ve had to seek it out. It almost feels like being put between two worlds. ‘SOUL’ is essentially me bearing a lot of my soul to the listener.”
With his interest in music beginning in primary school through joining the choir and taking flute lessons, it was spontaneously seeing Electric Octopus, a Belfast-based band, playing live at The Belfast Empire Music Hall that motivated him to pursue music as a career. “I was completely transfixed by how well they all played and controlled the crowd”, shared KALLA. “It was life-changing and encouraged me to teach myself how to play the guitar and sing again from scratch… I actually dropped out of university when I was in my final year of studying software engineering”.
Self-described as being “indie soul” with heavy inspiration from the current U.K jazz scene, KALLA’s current musical inspirations are Leanne La Havas, Magic City Hippies and Tom Misch.
In celebration of KALLA’s first release in 2 years will be ‘SOUL’s sold-out release part on 19th March, which is to be held at The American Bar; a location that allowed for KALLA to develop via an open-mic.
“The release party is going to be eye-opening. It’ll be a bit of a family affair too because I haven’t actually played for my family and friends before – I wanted to wait for a big reveal like this. And because it sold out in just over a day… I can’t believe it. I’m really proud of myself”.
“It won’t be just me performing. There are going to be other artists too, like Aimée, Antwan Ruiz and Paddy Godfrey, as well as the band who does all my backing for me.”
‘SOUL’ has been teased as being the first of 6 upcoming releases, although whether or not these will be released as singles or as an EP is still to be decided.
“I haven’t decided if I’m going to release them all as singles or as part of an EP. EP’s have been recommended to me from a press perspective, but I’m not playing for press. I want to connect with people.”
Watch out, Antrim – there’s a new promising musician on the scene and his name is KALLA!