‘Sound Proof Heart’ is a poetic R&B reflection that feels honest and inviting, the sonic manifestation of a deep-rooted connection between friends and a vocal-heavy record that fits into the most soulful of pockets. It’s the second album by Alekesam, aka Sal Masekela, with production duties handled by session titan Sunny Levine. The friends were raised as brothers by their fathers Hugh Masekela and Stewart Levine, two artists who made music together for five decades. With Sunny Levine adding his musical intelligence to hit records, Sal has paved a path as the once voice and face of X Games, a producer and correspondent for outlets as essential as Vice and National Geographic, and an ambassador for the convergence of modern soul and the experimental sides of the music sphere… We talk to Sal about nostalgia, surfing and the World Cup…
TSH: What sort of experiences from yesteryear were you drawing on for your latest album ‘Sound Proof Heart’?
Sal: There’s a strange and carefree period in your youth where you’re watching weird shit happen in the works but it really can’t get to you or affect your existence. You wake up every day and you’re purely focused on having all of the fun possible and life feels like its forever. Then you get to the next chapter where you start to realise and appreciate energetically how we are all connected and the manner in which we move and inform each other. You start getting to the place where you take on the things happening around you and they wear into your fabric - this record is born out of these types of feelings and experiences.
TSH: Forming this record with your close friend Sunny Levine on production duties must have enhanced your output given the intuitive chemistry that you have with him?
Sal: Totally. We’re both empathetic feelers who are addicted to the beauty of humanity. When things go dark, we get puzzled at a soul level. For our chemistry being so amazing I’m appreciative to our parents because they were so close and they raised us as brothers. Nothing is ever held back with me and Sunny - we always tell each other our truths. There’s absolutely no ego in our relationship.
TSH: How would you define the level of focus for the songs coming together track by track?
Sal: Each track felt like going out and playing a game. There were different levels of intensity. It felt like garnering points and feeling like you’ve scored a goal - you run around and celebrate - and then you start all over again.
TSH: Nostalgia is also at the heart of certain songs?
Sal: Definitely. If you listen to ‘Oh Shante’ it’s literally like an ode to my childhood as a kid in NYC growing up during the birth of hip-hop. I used to listen to Roxanne Shante’s mixtapes with my friends. For that one we were harking back to 90s sensibilities from a track perspective and we then sneaked in a little love note to Roxanne Shante with the hook.
TSH: What are the origins of ‘Vagabond’?
Sal: That song was super-challenging - and that’s when you know you’re making something worthy and special. The most difficult songs to finish feel like a 10,000 piece puzzle and ‘Vagabond’ felt like climbing a mountain. However, when it finally came together me and Sunny were taken back because we both felt like we’d never heard nothing like it before. To me, that song is like a commencement speech at a university in musical form.
TSH: How did you both react once you applied the finishing touches to the album?
Sal: Whenever we finish an album we get in my car and we drive up to the coast. We don’t say anything to each other for the drive duration. For this record we initially thought it might require more work but after listening to it in the car me and Sunny just looked at each other and we couldn’t stop smiling and hi-fiving each other. The whole record felt fluid and like all the songs meant something to each other - it felt like we had reached a new level.
TSH: You penned a heartfelt letter in the wake of this album coming together about the passing of your father. How significant are the lessons and the mentoring that he gave you over the years?
Sal: It’s massive. After we made the first album I didn’t tell my dad until it was nearly done because I was scared of what he would say. He heard about it when we were over halfway through and asked to listen to it. I gave him a CD literally in the street and he told me he’d sit with it for a couple of days and get back to me, which felt intimidating, haha! He came back a few days later and said ‘It’s beautiful... the only problem is that I’m not on it!’ It felt like the most beautiful compliment I could receive from my father, especially knowing he was someone who had redefined the parameters of what music is for a lot of people in the world. In the end I felt so proud that my father featured on this latest album on the track entitled ‘In An Age’.
TSH: To avoid the needless distractions in life do you still opt to go to the ocean?
Sal: Yeah, totally. It happens to me every day. I’m one of those individuals that can get sucked into the rabbit hole of sometimes only seeing through the darker lens of what’s happening around us. We are in such a weird transition as human beings and we’re in the midst of learning some real collective lessons via being retaught old and meaningful messages. But yes, when shit gets too heavy, I go to the ocean.
TSH: Surfing is your happy place...
Sal: It’s my happy place, for sure. It’s literally the place where you leave it all behind. The last song on the record ‘Only Ones There’ is definitely an ode to the beauty of surfing, being in the ocean and the power of what it does to my soul.
TSH: Also, you find that listening to Björk for a good hour while home alone is the perfect dose of weirdness to cancel out dark energy...
Sal: Haha! Björk is one of my favourite humans. I just listened to her new album by myself and I was amazed at how she’s so from the future. Sitting and listening to a beautiful record like hers on a remote island where there’s a perfect surf - now that’s my Valhalla!
TSH: What did you admire most about the World Cup recently?
Sal: I really enjoyed watching the spirit and energy of France. The energy within that team was so powerful! I really liked how they are unabashedly a band of Africans, Muslims and peoples from all types of faith - it’s so refreshing to see in today’s world. For some outsiders maybe some of the players are not French enough, but it’s amazing to see their team spirit and harmony. I was actually rooting for them early on.
TSH: What do you hope achieve with the next step in your musical career?
Sal: It’s always important for me to feel like I can pick up where I left off and grow according to where I am as a person in my life. I want to celebrate the main ingredients of who I am as a person, so with my music it’s always about feeling like I’m making something because it needs to be made and not because I should be making it.
