LISTEN: introducing Jalen N’Gonda, debut track (‘Holler’) + London show

Introducing, Jalen N’Gonda

Debut double-A-sided single – ‘Holler (When You Call My Name)’ / ‘Why I Try’

Live: Servant’s Jazz Quarters, June 18th

“Soulful songwriting with a classic twist…continually looks ahead” Clash

Jalen N’Gonda has premiered ‘Holler (When You Call My Name)’, the first half of his forthcoming debut, double-A-sided single. Having already opened for the likes of Lauryn Hill, Jamie Woon and Laura Mvula (and been greeted by Martha Reeves with “you’re pretty young to be playing the blues like that”), Jalen will headline London’s Servant’s Jazz Quarters this Monday (June 18th).
Jalen N’Gonda draws on richly complex personal and musical heritage. His family (in part of Zambian descent) herald from Washington DC, where N’Gonda was raised in small-town Maryland. The son of a day care specialist and IT worker, vintage R&B filled the house, and eventually proved to be a porthole into another path altogether: N’Gonda found out about The Liverpool Institute For Performing Arts whilst casually watching TV, and applied with little knowledge of the UK besides a long-held desire to move far away. “Fish and Chips, Harry Potter, and The Queen: that’s all I saw in America,” he says now. It was enough, just about, to get him in.
In Liverpool, the realities of English life – and the stark contrast to a home where very little happens – quickly broadened Jalen’s horizons. The effect is already there for all to see in his music, the first taste of which premieres today: now equally influenced by classic 60s soul as British, indie storytelling, ‘Holler (When You Call My Name)’ blends a love of Jackie Wilson and Daptone Records with local-exposure to the likes of Last Shadow Puppets or The Kinks.
From Washington to Liverpool, and quickly booking shows (largely by word of mouth) across Europe – ‘Holler’ suggests Jalen N’Gonda may be modern soul’s most promising newcomer.

LISTEN TO ‘HOLLER (WHEN YOU CALL MY NAME)’

Servant’s Jazz Quarters – TICKETS

https://dice.fm/event/jalen-ngonda-18th-jul-servant-jazz-quarters-london-tickets
https://www.facebook.com/JalenNgondauk/
https://twitter.com/JalenNgonda
http://www.jalenngonda.com/