Lois Mahalia Chases the EP

The sensationally versatile and vivacious vocalist Lois Mahalia has been performing in and around Santa Barbara and across the world in a variety of settings for decades. The Guyana-born singer-songwriter has done everything from fronting the R&B-soul-jazz family band Georgetown with her three brothers, to singing backup on many tours with Joe Walsh, to appearing in benefits alongside Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, and their colleagues, to collaborating with longtime Santa Barbara-based Costa Rican percussionist-composer Luis Muñoz on several recent albums, to name just a few accomplishments. 

What she hasn’t done is make a full album under her own name. Until now. 

Mahalia’s Chasing the Sun is the end result of several years of songwriting, producing, refining, and recording that was catalyzed by the pandemic shutdown, if also made a bit more unwieldy by the lockdowns. The album gets its official release on CD and streaming on Saturday, August 18, which Mahalia will celebrate with a concert at SOhO, one of the myriad stages she’s played all over town. The excitement was palpable over the phone last weekend. 

“It’s been a long time coming, and, really, it’s a freaking big deal,” Mahalia said. “It feels amazing but also humbling. I feel so open with everything about the album, but also a bit more vulnerable because it’s like I’m sharing my heart.”

Indeed, Chasing the Sun evinces a fresh take for the singer-songwriter, a left turn from funkier R&B flavors to a more nuanced, pop, and jazz-oriented approach befitting the personal, emotional-laden lyrical content. The title track was the impetus, Mahalia said. 

“It feels like we’re all chasing the sun, like we’re trying to get somewhere as artists, as people. Trying to reach the top. But the truth is we’re actually there right now. The sun is here, all we need to do is be with it and feel it, not run after it. We don’t have to chase anything… I sing about living each day on sacred ground, treating each other with kindness, and understanding that all the love and everything that we have to give begins with us.” 

That goes for the environment, as well, which is another theme on the record. 

“If we treat each other with love, we automatically want to help each other, lift each other up,” she said. “We automatically want to heal the Earth, too.” 

Mahalia collaborated with Ventura independent songwriter-producer David Petry on the album’s 10 tracks, with additional input from Dean Dinning (of Toad the Wet Sprocket fame), Zach Madden, and Thom Flowers (who also produced). The latter three also play on nearly every track, with Tariqh Akoni, Kevin Winard, and drummers Steve Ferrone and Jake Hayden also contributing, a sort of role reversal from Mahalia’s past as the session artist. Also singing harmonies and more on four of the tracks is Steve Perry, of Journey fame, who stumbled on Mahalia’s music when he showed up to record with Flowers in the Santa Barbara studio. 

“Thom was working on one of my songs we’d just recorded, ‘Gravity and Love,’ and he asked who was singing it because he wanted to sing backup,” Mahalia said. “Thom just recorded him and then played it for me the next time I was there. I loved what he did, and eventually Steve sang on three more songs, too.” 

Mahalia will have a different locally-based band for the SOhO gig, but it’s the songs that are the stars for the celebration of the first original release by a singer best-known for her cover music.

“I love to sing cover songs and make them my own, but I feel so excited to be singing my original songs,” she said. “I can’t wait to share my heart.”