ACL Preview: Kalu & the Electric Joint’s Message of Joy

Kalu James has taken the eclectic sounds of the African continent and combined them with old-school soul in the spirit of Sly & the Family Stone.

His powerful voice underscores a lyricist who has made it his mission to give people music that inspires joy, inspires growth and change. The 2023/24 Austin Music Awards Best Vocalist nominee reflects on 2023 album Garden of Eden and giving voice to the voiceless.

Austin Chronicle: What do you consider your Garden of Eden?

Kalu James: Garden of Eden was recorded and re-recorded, and I spent a lot of time during the peak of the pandemic, [during] a lot of the racial tension of 2020, and in so many ways, personally, dealing with all of that. At the same time, it’s being able to examine your shadow self while you do that, and balance.

My Garden of Eden is where I can sit back, reflect on my actions and my journeys, and be able to speak truth to it, to bring truth to power, knowing fully well that so many people, or at least other people, feel that same way. It’s giving voice to the voiceless. It’s poetry in motion. It’s, in so many ways, being able to give an account of the human condition.

AC: Track “Mirror” from Garden of Eden has such a Roy Ayers/Sly & the Family Stone feeling to it. Could you talk about the inspiration behind the song?

KJ: “Our savior lives in the mirror.” No one is going to come save us. Such a true thing that I believe, and I was going through a lot of therapy. There are very few places where people can just go release. You have the gym, whatever it is, but there are very few places in a society where it’s very much your best foot’s forward. While I do get that, there is also a necessity to have places where people can have a collective reach. We just carry these Instagram filter-like images, and you can only do that so much. They’re so many moments in that song, and the line that goes, “Is that la negra for tree trimmers? Is that a singing birthday-gram or gang of n*ggas?” Which is actually something I pulled from a newspaper article, a bunch of Black brothers who are singing a birthday-gram that they have sent to someone’s house. There’s so many layers in that song, yet it’s just niche viewing, in so many ways, of everything that I am observing and reflecting, bringing it back to the reason of the chorus: No one can save us but ourselves.

AC: What are two songs that you absolutely love to perform or that you can’t wait to perform?

KJ: Can you medley? [laughs] This is like an introduction. I’ve lived here for as long as I’ve lived here, and I’ve been active all this time, and this is an introduction to so many people that haven’t heard of us because of the amount of talent that is in this city. You said “Mirror” – I can’t wait for “Mirror,” and I can’t wait for “Garden of Eden.”

AC: What’s the final message you want to give to the people who are coming to see you at ACL?

KJ: Final message of the people who are going to come is, for all the baggage and everything that you’re dealing with, just set that aside and jump on the ride with us, specifically for Kalu & the Electric Joint. Jump on that ride with us for an hour, and then jump to the other bands. You are surrounded by so many people.

Sunday 13 (Weekend 2 only), 1:30pm, Tito’s Stage

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