Premiere: Mykia Jovan flies solo with her debut single “16 Shots”

Photography: Gus Bennett. Cover Design: Danielle C. Miles.

Photography: Gus Bennett. Cover Design: Danielle C. Miles.

New Orleans native Mykia Jovan has been captivating crowds with soul, funk and R&B outfit Smoke N’ Bones for a few years, and she’s held down a Sunday night residency at the Blue Nile for even longer. Now the talented singer—a graduate of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts—is gearing up to release the first full-length album under her own name.

Dubbed Elliyahu, the forthcoming release is due out on September 1, but you won’t have to wait that long to get a taste of the record. That’s because OffBeat is excited to premiere “16 Shots,” the lead single off Elliyahu, today. Much like the rest of the album, “16 Shots” finds Jovan joined by frequent collaborators Jason Butler (keys), Noah Young (bass) and Walter Lundy (drums). Stephen Gladney (sax) also makes a prominent contribution to the track, which offers an important social critique beneath its laidback grooves.  The new single is accompanied by a B-side titled “Feast on the Flower,” a decidedly more jovial tune that features some guitar work from prolific sideman Danny Abel

“’16 Shots’ and ‘Feast on the Flower are two very contrasting love songs,” Jovan tell us. “One is a reckoning and one is a beckoning. ’16 Shots’ is a social commentary from a marginalized token point of view. ‘Feast on the Flower is a celebration of  love in the midst of the chaos.”

“Elliyahu is about whether or not we seize the opportunity to sneak behind the curtain and expose the so-called great and powerful,” she adds. “It’s discovering that idols are both in and outside ourselves. It is a tiny capsule of moments in life where I’ve either decided to illuminate or succumb to suffering.”

Elliyahu was recorded at New Orleans’ own Wild Child Studios and produced by Naughty Professor guitarist Bill Daniel. Jovan and her collaborators will celebrate the album with a release show on September 1, though the location is not yet determined. Until then, you can catch her at Blue Nile every Sunday at 7:30pm.